What We Once Knew: Changes
by UnleashTheBeast220
Summary: As Beast Boy attempts to ensure a better future, Raven embraces new, questionable feelings for him. While new friends & old enemies strain what could become a future changing love or a team shattering hatred, the Titans face their greatest challenge yet. Chapter 2 updated.
1. Night Terrors

**FULL STORY DESCRIPTION:**

When Raven snaps at Beast Boy, the changeling decides that it's time to grow up and into someone who can fend for himself and protect his team. As they go through several poorly timed events, they realize what means most to them. Problem is they've already locked themselves away, unsure of where to go or what to do. The world is shifting, changing, and with it comes the time to decide what step to take towards the future. As Beast Boy and Raven try to establish a steady relationship, an old foe returns to swell the chaos. While the Titans face their greatest challenge ever, a friendship years in the works will face many tests on the road to romance. Will it last, or will all of the instability of new friends, foes, and threats end it, and the Titans, prematurely?

Warnings:

-OC later in the story

-Mild cursing

The primary story is BbxRae, but just as life is not so clean-cut in its processes, this story will have much more to it than that.

**CHAPTER 1**

Beast Boy awoke in a cold sweat, his breathing heavy, labored, and uneven. For a moment, he thought how curious it was - that sudden intake of breath that ripped you from a horrid dream; as if the air was the only grasp on reality, and if we didn't drink it in quickly enough it would vanish and leave us trapped in our horrors. When he caught his breath and his heart finally slowed, he was met with an offensive silence. Sweat coated his bare chest and face. His eyes darted around the pitch black room, shadowed figures jutting forwards, menacingly taunting Beast Boy's newfound paranoia. Satisfied with the emptiness of the room, he closed his eyes and rested his head on his hand. Shock and sadness from the night terror forced tears up to coat his emerald eyes and trickle down his cheek.

The worst of it was easily the lucidity of the dream. He felt somewhat in control, which is what made it all that much more horrifying and depressing. That much more real.

Slowly, he arose from his bed as the moon crept out from behind its cloudy haven. It seemed as though the moon, too, had tried hiding from its nightmares. The moonlight illuminated the entire room, and he glanced at his clock. Just past midnight. Sighing, he felt no drowsiness - only a scratchy throat and a dry mouth, accompanied by a headache.

He pulled on his favorite pajama bottoms, black with uneven green zigzags all along the sides, and made his way to the main room of Titan's Tower, walking much like a zombie, as he did whenever he awoke from a particularly exhausting dream. They may just be dreams, but that didn't mean he didn't toss and turn as though having a seizure. Opening the refrigerator, he hunted for a drink to quench the fire that was his thirst. Glaring at a bottle of Fruit Punch marked Cyborg and a can of Monster Energy marked Robin, he sighed and grabbed a bottle of water. He spun on his heels, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the kitchen's center island. He yawned and drank most of the water bottle at once, the plastic crackling and crunching obnoxiously, before he slammed it back on the counter and sighed again.

It had been the fourteenth night that month that he had the dream. Everything started with Slade attacking the city, with his ever-expanding army of robotic drones. This in itself was bizarre, as they hadn't seen him for over a year.

The dream tended to go like this:

_The Titans were being defeated viciously and without mercy. Never had Slade seemed so determined to get it over with than in this moment. No games, no taunts. Just annihilation. One by one, the Titans fell like flies, the ceaseless barrage of Slade's drones proving to be too much for them. Beast Boy and Raven were always the last two left, and every single time Beast Boy tried the same thing, hoping that this time would be different. Insanity defined. They ran at Slade, Beast Boy trying to morph into a rhinoceros, discovering with dread that his powers weren't working. A look of shock washed over his face when he reached Slade with nothing but his twiggy arms and an expression of sheer panic. Slade kicked Beast Boy to the ground and grabbed Raven by the throat. Her eyes filled with tears and she glanced at Beast Boy with a look overflowing with hopelessness. Her powers, too, had stopped working. She tried to speak, and nothing but a strained rasp came out with Slade constricting her throat more and more as each second passed. The ground opened up beside them, eager to devour whatever slipped between its teeth. Raven soon went limp, unconscious from lack of air, and Slade threw her down the hole, into oblivion. Beast Boy dove after her, only to be caught by his shirt and thrown mercilessly to the pavement. "Raven!" Beast Boy shouted. Slade laughed menacingly, diving at him…_

That was where the dream ended tonight. For that, he was grateful.

He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated, sad, worried, and tired all at once. Over the course of the month, the dream had gone from being brushed off as nothing to bringing him to tears. It was consuming him.

And through it, he also never felt more aware. More aware of his shortcomings as a teammate. More aware of his dependence on his transformations. He had become acutely conscious of every possible situation in which he couldn't use his powers to help his friends, and suddenly, he felt weak. There's only so much to be done when one barely fights in his natural state.

He was more aware of the fact that he needed to become better. Needed to be capable of fighting in all of his forms, capable of thinking more quickly on his feet, and capable of fighting on his own. The Teen Titans may not be around forever, after all. If he was stripped of his transforming, he had nothing. Everyone else was born with the abilities they used, save for Cyborg and Robin. Even then, Cyborg's technology was now as much a part of him as his brain, and as such he'd built so many defenses in that Beast Boy wasn't sure an EMP could shut him down. As for Robin, he was trained by the Batman for years. Nothing could strip him of that.

Beast Boy, however, contracted his powers when he was cured of a rare disease. A genetic modification, with all the potential in the world to revert to its original state.

But then, there was also Raven. Her powers had shorted out on occasion. An occasion he relived, quite vividly, every time he slept.

Weeks ago he had considered all of this, and weeks ago he had started training. Even though he had begun to improve, he still saw inexperience and dependence when he looked in the mirror.

"It's just a dream," he told himself for the hundredth time, eyes closed tight. He opened them to see nothing but blackness and moon-cast shadows. Any light that did find its way in was quickly consumed by the darkness. The steady beat of his heart seemed deafening against the silence. It felt haunted.

He chugged the rest of his water, tossed it into the garbage, and walked unsteadily back to his room. A draft kissed his face and chest, still coated in a thin, cooling sweat. He lay down and closed his tired eyes.

It had been a year since Terra's reappearance, and Beast Boy had long since accepted that she didn't remember her old life, or the pain she had gone through, or the friends she had made. It stung. He found out very quickly that being forgotten leaves an unresolvable frustration in your system. It leaves no one to be angry at, and nothing to been done to change it. All it does is ache for a while, and all you can do is feel it. Eventually, thankfully, he discovered that time was good at healing wounds. What really helped him to move on, though, instead of simply forgetting, was the help of his gothic friend. She had dealt with heartbreak before, and so she had - if only just a few - words of advice. With them came healing, and the beginnings of a real friendship.

This thought brought him back to the dream. The orchestration of events was always similar, and it always ended up with her and Beast Boy fighting together, powerless.

He had decided it was because of the way he felt about her. For a few months now, ever since she helped him move forward with his life, Beast Boy had found himself growing closer to Raven. He had taken to helping her relax and be herself around other people. She even managed to influence him as well. Around her, he found himself more thoughtful and patient. They could speak for an hour on end, feeding off of each other's differences. Once, they even found themselves, albeit very briefly, mulling over metaphysics:

"_Still, it's like... How can you be sure of anything? I mean, the only real way of knowing of what is and isn't true is perception, right? But there are tons of things that can totally throw off your senses, and make you think stuff wrong! So how do we even know that we know what we know?" he rambled excitedly. "Dude, this is gonna bug me forever." _

_Raven had laughed lightly at his exasperation. _"_Welcome to philosophy. You won't find many answers here."_

They really managed to become good friends. And while he never did find any answers, he did end up liking her. Quite a bit, in fact. Unfortunately, lately, things had gone south between them. Antartically so. He tried thinking about something else.

It didn't change how he felt, however, and very quickly she was back on his mind. He admonished himself at first, the rational part of his brain urging him to abandon this fruitless journey and find a more promising tree to pick from.

Still, he couldn't help himself, and his mind carried him away.

Of course, Beast Boy had always believed her beautiful, sure. That was more or less irrelevant. Beneath that, she was extremely intelligent, and funny in her own way. She made him think, he made her laugh. She was reserved, he was outgoing. They were opposites much like colours were; complimentary.

Until recently, anyway. Though, he hoped that was temporary.

They had always been friends, in his mind, and for the most part hers. In the past months, though, a thought lingered in the back of his head, constantly and persistently hoping for something more. He was delusional, sure, that much he knew. She'd proven it. But he just couldn't help but think of her as someone he genuinely wanted to be with.

He fell asleep grinning, imagining them together. Raven was smiling ear to ear, not a single thought lingering on her father or keeping distance between herself and others. He wanted to make her smile like that.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Raven awoke early, as usual, from a rather unsatisfactory slumber. She stretched quietly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. With a yawn, she got up and went to take a shower. When she was done, she dried herself off, and put on her leotard, hooded cape, and boots. She left her room with a book, and walked to the main room of the Tower. She hadn't been out of her room, lately, for anything but missions or early morning cups of tea, which assured she wouldn't see Beast Boy very much. She had given up on it a couple of days ago, her anger having subsided, but still she never saw him. This made her sad, regardless of what had happened two weeks prior, as they had only been good friends for a little while. She poured a small cup of herbal tea and sat at the table. Flipping open her book, she began to read. Memories of what happened flashed through her head, and she felt horrible for how she had treated him. It was just an accident.

_Two weeks prior..._

It was early afternoon, and Beast Boy and Raven were the only ones home. Cyborg had gone to get parts for the T-Car, and it was known that it would take hours, if not all day. Robin and Starfire had gone to the mall to hang out and get some new clothes. Beast Boy sat on the half-circle couch watching a comedy special, and Raven was preparing some tea, a book next to her, deciding to read at the table. This had become a routine for the few days that they had off.

Beast Boy found himself to be thirsty, so he got up and walked over to the fridge. He grabbed the jug of soy milk and a glass from the cupboard. He poured himself a glass, sat on one of the stools, and turned back to the television, taking a few big gulps.

"Hey, just let me know if you need me to turn it down or anything," he said, glancing back.

"It's alright. I'm used to tuning out bad jokes," she said, unable to keep a smile at bay.

"That's rude," he said, turning back to his program. After a pause, they both laughed.

Raven's tea was ready, so she went to grab a glass, leaving the pot on the edge of the counter.

The comedian told a particularly hilarious joke pertaining to children and their incessant need to know "why?" which caused Beast Boy to explode with laughter. He fell off of the stool backwards, grabbing for the counter to slow his descent, as Raven poured a cup of tea. His hand flew up and it hit the pot and cup out of Raven's hands, sending boiling hot tea all over her, her book, and her costume. Beast Boy got up off of the ground to see a burned, drenched Raven glaring at him with such a fiery rage that his glass of soy milk exploded in front of him, along with the toaster behind him. He realized what he had done, and immediately began to try and fix it.

"Raven, I'm so sorry! It was an accident! I-"

"Beast Boy, you-…" She flinched, the pain and fury cutting her short. When she opened her eyes, they flared red for a moment. Groaning, she found her words again. "Learn some self-control, you moron! You're like a four-year-old!" She grabbed her book, now ruined from the tea-splosion, and stormed out of the room, shoving past him and leaving him alone. He stared at the doorway, her anger and his regret sinking in. His ears lowered the way they always did when he was sad, and he began to clean the mess he had made.

_Why am I so stupid? It wasn't even that funny! God, she probably hates me... _

He sighed, bathing in his melodrama. He finished cleaning, walked back to the couch, and watched the rest of his program, not laughing again.

Raven quickly entered the bathroom and turned the shower on. Locking the door, she stripped off her clothes and jumped in, the cold water biting at her and making her flinch away. It warmed a bit, soothing the burns on her arms, legs, stomach, and neck. Luckily, the tea hadn't burned her considerably, and she healed herself fairly easily. That didn't mean it didn't hurt, though, and as such she was still very, very angry at him. She exited the shower, dried herself, and teleported back to her room. She stayed in her room for most of the day, trying to calm herself down.

Beast Boy found himself mowing over the situation in his head, giving himself a mental beating for hurting Raven. Guilt slammed against him in waves.

And yet, the worst was yet to come that day.

_Present..._

Raven sighed. _He's probably over it by now; he'll come through that door and go back to being normal, happy Beast Boy. But then, I wouldn't be surprised if he never spoke to me again, regardless. This whole situation is a mess. The tea incident was enough; why did he have to pull that, too? Why now, when our friendship was best?_

_Still, he didn't _mean_ to destroy our friendship, so why is it?_

She sighed again. "I just hope we can be friends again," she said to the empty room.


	2. Rage and Grace, Love and Hate

**Here you are, ladies and gents - my second updated chapter. This one was particularly difficult to get through, just because of how many little things I found myself changing and re-changing. As such, there's bound to be a few errors, but I've kept you guys waiting long enough.**

**Enjoy.**

**CHAPTER 2**

_Two weeks earlier, a few hours after the tea incident..._

The Teen Titans were all in their rooms, preparing for bed. Beast Boy tried unsuccessfully to sleep as the dreams continued to preoccupy ever moment of it. The pain of losing his family, losing Raven, plagued him over and over, until, not for the last time, a tear streamed down his cheek. The night terrors continued to get longer and more graphic. Tonight was particularly painful. Tonight, Slade began to taunt Beast Boy, and his incapability to save the ones he cared about, as he slowly beat him into nothing.

_Slade stood above Beast Boy, who was bleeding from various nicks and cuts over his body. Beast Boy lay still on his back, staring straight up at the sky._

"_How does it feel to know that your closest friends, your family, lay dead all around you? How does it feel knowing that everything standing between this city and oblivion has fallen, and left you, a helpless, powerless child, to suffer every single defeat you dealt me?" Slade took a knee next to Beast Boy, hovering above him. Beast Boy had no choice but to stare into Slade's one eye as he continued, his composure slowly falling away. "Let's not forget that it was you and your actions that resulted in Terra's betrayal and, ultimately, my death. Too bad for you that it didn't last," Slade said slowly, deliberately. Every word carried with it the promise of destruction._

"_You can't do this. You can't just destroy an entire city," Beast Boy said weakly, an already swollen jaw impeding his speech a little._

_Slade only chuckled once. His smile could be heard as he replied coolly. "This won't end soon, Beast Boy, and when it does, you'll thank me."_

He threw himself off of the bed and began pacing his room. He growled, filled with hate towards a man who he hadn't seen for an entire year. He roared in anger and punched the wall, cracking the plaster. The impact shook its way up his arm as pain dripped down into his knuckles.

He sighed, anticipating a verbal beating from Cyborg, and exited his room, heading for the shower. If nothing else, he could at least relax under a torrent of hot water.

Rounding a corner, he spotted Raven a little ways down the hall. Her hood was up.

He felt his heart begin to drag along the floor behind him. After so closely witnessing her death only moments ago, he couldn't help but drink her in as she approached. Quickly, though, he shoved his feelings away. After what had happened earlier, he was likely to be killed before he could even say hello. Still, he was compelled to at least apologize for getting her burned. He glanced at her and she glared, only slightly, before nodding in greeting. So she wasn't horribly mad. Good.

"Um, Raven? Can I talk to you?" he asked.

She hesitated, eying her doorway. After a moment, she caved, assuming he was going to apologize. "What is it Beast Boy?" she asked, rather impatient.

"Well...I wanted to say I was sorry, and that it was an accident, I swear," he said, studying her reaction.

She nodded. "It's OK, Beast Boy. I know it wasn't on purpose. I'm sorry, too, for overreacting so badly," she said, still monotone. Remarkable, how little she revealed when she didn't want to. It seemed she'd already begun to rebuild the barriers between them.

He looked her in the eyes for a moment, trying to decide what to say next.

Raven, being the empath that she was, sensed his caring and regret. She also sensed something else. Worry? "Beast Boy, is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. At least, it shouldn't be." That night, as it should happen, was the night things had started to become much clearer to him; the chief of which was his true feelings for her. He looked her in the eyes again. All he wanted was her forgiveness. Her affection. Her embrace. He felt another part of himself kick him for being such a sap.

Raven waited patiently for Beast Boy to elaborate. The apology seemed to ease her composure. His mind was in too much of a haze for her to sense anything anymore. A great deal of stress was really the only thing that was clear, and Raven was worried.

"Raven, I..."

"Beast Boy, don't worry. I'm not mad, and I won't yell at you again, I promise. If you have something you want to tell me, tell me. Otherwise, I'd like to go to my room." She sounded so calm, Beast Boy believed her.

_I have feelings for you._ He couldn't get the words out. A few simple words that summed up a sea of emotion.

_Feelings that could be love, but then again may not be since I don't know what it feels like, but I do know that I really like your laugh, and how you smell, and the way you smile really subtly to yourself when you read, and how I can sometimes just sit and talk to you about stuff that I normally wouldn't really think about, and how funny you can be, and how nice you are and how you always help out and how you get really shy sometimes and how freakin' smart you are and how fun and happy you can be around me and you could be more if you'd just let yourself and a million other things that I can't really explain, _he thought anxiously.

He considered dropping it and walking away. They were friends, and that was it. Right?

"I just wanted to say that..." He groaned.

"Maybe it would be easier to show me whatever it is?" She sounded impatient now.

"Rae- Sorry. Raven, I think I...Ugh. Please forgive me," he said, and kissed her briefly, albeit with a strong passion. She felt shock, confusion, and then anger. Burning. He had stolen her first kiss. Not that she should care. At least, she thought she didn't. She shrugged it off. She felt his mind clear, and suddenly his feelings were painfully obvious. That isn't what had her so furious, however; he had gone too far. He had betrayed her trust. Trust that he respected her personal space. Trust that he wouldn't spontaneously kiss her a send their entire friendship down the drain.

She got careless. Her rationality dissolved as her eyes turned red for just a moment.

Beast Boy took note. "Raven, I'm so sorry! I can't-"

"You can't what? Understand how deluded you are?" Immediately she thought about what had connected them, made them friends. In her anger, she attacked all of it. "I don't need your help to _smile_ more or be more outgoing. My father is gone. I'm fine!" She was yelling now. "I thought we could stay friends, but you obviously can't control yourself! Trying to be closer than a friend is idiotic! I'd rather stay alone for the rest of my life!"

It was true, although not quite the way it sounded. She wanted to be alone no matter what; it had nothing to do with Beast Boy. The truth was that she was used to being alone as it was. She knew that being in a relationship was stupid because something could always happen to one of them. This, she twisted and crushed Beast Boy with.

He looked down, and further regret washed over everything else.

"You spill burning hot tea on me, my book, and have annoyed me incessantly for three years. And now, after we finally become friends, you want to be a couple? We can barely make a friendship work!" The more passionate fury now dispersed, she regained some rationality, and she stopped there for fear of insulting him further.

And yet, even after all that, Beast Boy couldn't help himself. "Raven, I thought I loved Terra. When she betrayed us – me - I figured the pain would never go away. But you helped it go away, Raven. You took the time to console me, just like I did for you when Malchior..." He trailed off. "After that, I felt something there. A kind of connection, I don't know, but lately I've been forced to really look at what matters and, well… You matter a lot to me, Raven. When I'm with you, I just feel more at ease; like I can be myself without being judged - not seriously, anyway. I have fun just being around you. That's the kind of person I want to be with," he said, more nervous than he'd ever been before. His heart beat like a hummingbird's wings. He paused, the air growing thicker by the second. They both stood there awkwardly, her in her anger and him in his hope.

He continued. "And I think… I think you feel that way too, because if you didn't you wouldn't have stood here for as long as you have."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that.

When she didn't reply, her expression unreadable, he kissed her again, longer this time, hoping to make her realize the truth of how she felt. He realized the truth of his passion-blinded stupidity only seconds too late.

Raven's eyes flew wide, and she exploded with fury. This was something she could never have. Something she never wanted. His actions deprived her of one of the only people she could really talk to; it severed a connection that she had already been terrified to make in the first place.

What resulted was not Raven, but a ruthless, cruel version of her.

Again, her eyes glowed red from underneath her hood; except, this time, they stayed red. All four of them. Her powers reacting instinctively, she unintentionally blasted him about ten feet down the hall. Panic filled the back of her mind, but any rational thought was beaten back by her rage.

"You disgusting idiot!" she screamed. "Want some advice?! I would want to be with someone who respects my boundaries! Someone who wouldn't judge me, or try to change me and make me open up more! Someone who wasn't so oblivious that he spilled boiling hot tea on me, and tried to apologize by kissing me! Grow up, and maybe then someone, somewhere, will tolerate you!" With that, she turned and walked away, vanishing around the corner. Beast Boy heard her door slam, leaving him alone in the hall. With its slam came the final nail in the coffin, and he was convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she hated him.

She didn't fall for him like he'd hoped. As a matter of fact, he was pretty sure that their friendship had died in that hallway.

_I'm so stupid..._ he thought, getting up and wandering back to his room.

Raven just meditated, having an incredibly hard time controlling herself. She hated him for ruining their friendship. She hated him for being so insufferable. She hated him for kissing her. She hated him for everything he'd done in that hallway because it only served to prove that trusting people, getting close to them, will only end in hurt.

Or she did at first, anyway. Once she calmed, she found that none of it mattered to her as much as she thought it did, and she worried why. Maybe they had a strong enough friendship to endure this. Maybe it really didn't matter to her. Maybe they could talk through this like they had so many other things.

Or maybe...

She stopped herself before she finished the thought.

Instead, she spent the rest of the night rebuking herself for tearing Beast Boy apart like that.

She had insulted him so mercilessly, and while his actions were admittedly foolish, he didn't deserve it. He had been a good friend to her, and she let herself blame him for trying to change her. This was hardly the case, she knew, as he was right; she had lived so long having to keep herself buried that she needed some help learning to express herself better. He offered that help, and she spat it back at him.

Furthermore, she was acutely aware of how badly he felt about spilling tea on her, and she directly attacked him for that.

Very quickly, she realized how horribly she had treated Beast Boy, and felt immense regret wash over her.

She also realized that her reasoning for not being with him now consisted solely of her fear of losing someone she loved, and the fact that she was used to being alone. But she loved her friends, regardless of what might happen, didn't she?

As she fell asleep, her imagination took off running, and she caught a glimpse of feelings she had never before allowed to surface.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

_Present..._

The sun had gotten higher in the sky, and one by one the Titans had all joined Raven in the main room. Robin and Starfire held hands by the counter, whispering quietly to each other as if everything they said was an important secret. Raven was floating above the table, meditating. Cyborg and Beast Boy played on the GameStation, Cyborg thrashing Beast Boy at every single game. Beast Boy gave up after another whooping, deciding he would go train for a while.

"What, you're leaving just like that? C'mon BB, who'm I gonna play with now?" Cyborg complained.

"Deal with it, dude. Can't beat me if I'm not here," Beast Boy said, grinning victoriously.

"Yeah, we'll see. You've still got a couple high scores left for me to beat," Cyborg taunted.

"Good luck, dude. It took me months to get those!" And with that, Beast Boy left the room.

He had been practicing and training consistently for the past month, as opposed to sitting on his butt all the time; now days, it was only most of the time. He'd built up more muscle, and even learned a few basic defensive moves from Robin. Since the infamous day with Raven, he worked even harder, studying more martial arts and battle strategies to take his mind off of things. He and Raven hadn't spoken about what happened. In fact, they hadn't talked at all since then. Beast Boy was too ashamed, and Raven had been ensuring the attraction's death.

He found himself to be a very quick learner, and was soon adept enough at hand to hand combat that he could handle himself fairly easily against a run-of-the-mill group of thugs. Still, he had a long road ahead of him, and much to learn about 'growing up' as Raven had so eloquently put it.

He was starting to show a more involved and intellectual side too, helping Robin in creating battle plans, helping Cyborg with improvements to the T-Car, and, occasionally, reading. Having read so many comic books, he discovered that he was pretty good at it. He read books about people, places, and the history of whatever he found himself to be curious about. The more he knew, the better off he would be; this much, he was sure of. He ensured that when it was time for the team to part ways, he could handle himself.

He had taken a liking to calling his goal 'Beast Boy 2.0.' He didn't want to become a different person; he just wanted an upgrade. At the end of the day, he was still the joker. Still the lazy nerd who played too many video games. But that stopped meaning that he was a liability. It stopped meaning he was weak or unintelligent. It stopped meaning he couldn't be trusted to lead the team if the time came.

He would be lying if he said he was doing it all by force of will, or because he wanted to. The dream scared him enough that any time he felt like stopping, he didn't. He pushed through. It had crossed his mind that this dream, this night terror, was causing unrest in him – had clouded his judgment, or spurred some sort of psychological trauma. It was driving him to become what he'd aspired to be for so long; clearly, it held a firm seat of power in his mind. And clearly, it wasn't to be dethroned no matter how hard he tried.

So he tried harder.

Regardless, he still didn't like the tediousness of his training. None of it held his interest particularly well. Sparring with Robin was tolerable some days, but the T-Car confused him even more than the books he read. But he kept at it, and continued to grow both as a hero and as an adult.

Raven took notice.

_What's gotten into him?_ She thought, incredulous, as he passed her on his way to the training room. _He's actually training between battles, he studying, reading, and even taking lessons from Robin. It's like one minute he's the same as he's always been, and the next he's suddenly serious and responsible._

_I wonder if it was because of what I said to him. I mean, he talked about growing up before, but seeing it now… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed._

Her mind drifted away, visualizing the Beast Boy - the Garfield Logan - she had come to know over the years. When she met him, he was just an inexperienced, goofy little kid. Slowly, as the team became a family, he learned to work with them as a cohesive unit, despite his faults, just as she did despite hers. He'd watched her misplace her trust and get her heart broken, and he'd been there to help piece it back together. She'd returned that favor years later. Now, he was growing into the man he needed to be, both for himself and for his team, just as she had grown away from her secluded, outcast life and into a content young woman with real friends and a real family.

They were growing because of each other, just as great friends are well to do. Just as great couples often do.

And then, all at once, she felt it:

The warmth overtaking her chest at the thought of his company.

The smile creeping across her lips as she imagined his own crooked, single-fanged grin.

After a brief reevaluation, she quickly decided that she'd rather enjoyed his kiss, and would not mind them sharing another.

Her eyes flew wide, and she mentally slapped herself. All at once, she was back.

_Oh, no. No! __This is Beast Boy! You can't fall for him! He kissed you, betrayed your trust, remember? And you finally convinced him to stay away, and your friendship is even fine! Don't screw it up! He's too goofy, too immature! Too-_

_Awesome!_ Happy said, giggling.

The funny thing about Raven's personality was that, when she meditated, its different aspects tended to take a sort of physical form inside her head. This could also be seen by entering her mind through the mirror that lay on a table in her room, as Beast Boy and Cyborg had discovered some years earlier. Her mind was divided into a few different realms, mostly consisting of a dark path in the middle of what appeared to be deep space. Through the occasional gates on this path, one could visit the seperate realms belonging to each specific part of her. Each realm was different, like the individual personalities, taking inspiration from whoever lived there, be it Happy, Timid, Brave, Knowledge, Rude, Love, or Sloth. Rage had a realm too, though it was primarily a prison kept under control by Raven as she meditated.

They each had developed their own isolated emotional patterns and thought processes, allowing Raven to dig deeper into her mind and emotions and sort through them. Occasionally, this led to various realizations and, in turn, arguments.

Raven gasped as she saw that Happy's observation wasn't particularly incorrect. Before she could shake the thought, another voice pitched in.

_He's an awesome fighter too! And he's always there if we need back up! He's got some serious guts to admit the things he did! _Brave added.

_He's pretty much always been nice to us... _Timid added quietly, wrapped in her cape like a cocoon.

_He's proven that he can hold his end of a conversation well enough. We've admitted plenty of times that we have an easy time talking to him; sometimes about very personal topics,_ Knowledge pointed out, to Raven's dismay. She had hoped that at least one part of her inner mind would be on her side.

_And he's even funnier these days! _Happy spoke again, putting another nail in the proverbial coffin.

She closed her eyes tightly, and recited her much-repeated mantra. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."

A blush threatened to creep up to her cheeks, so she adjourned to her room. Her door opened with a swish and she stepped inside anxiously. She closed it and quickly walked to her bed where she sat and began to meditate in solitude.

_I do not like Beast Boy, _she thought. _Just because he's a tiny bit different doesn't mean that he doesn't get on my nerves, and it definitely doesn't mean I like him. _She sighed.

_Just because someone gets on your nerves doesn't mean you can't like them, _Happy and Knowledge said, grinning.

Raven again recited her mantra and continued to meditate, hiding the blush as best she could.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

After a particularly exhausting session, Beast Boy left the workout room and took a shower. He dressed and exited to the main room to find nobody there. Seeing as he didn't want to bother Cyborg in the middle of his combat exercises, or Raven in the middle of her not talking to him, and since Starfire and Robin were probably in Robin's room doing things that he didn't enjoy imagining his friends doing, he decided to go watch TV. Plopping down on the couch, he grabbed the remote and pressed the 'On' button. He surfed for a few minutes before he decided to watch a program about parkour. He made a mental note to try it out sometime.

Beast Boy, as he was oft to do, zoned out after a bit. Losing himself in thought, he briefly began to think about Raven.

_I wonder if she's changed her mind..._

After a moment, he also wondered why his brain insisted on coming up with such ridiculous thoughts.

_Of course not. She's never shown me so much as an iota of any kind of affection above friendship, and after what happened I may as well consider that gone too. She made it pretty clear exactly how she felt. Why would that suddenly change?_

He sighed and rested his head against the back of the couch.

"Friend, does something trouble you?" said a voice from behind him.

Beast Boy turned around. Starfire stood by the door, looking at him with a worried expression. "Oh, hi Star. No, I'm fine, just a little tired," he lied.

"I see. You have been straining yourself very much lately with the 'working out'. Do you not think you should rest after such strenuous activity?" she asked.

He thought about this. His self-doubt had been incessant. The feeling of being less powerful, useful, or helpful than the others always lingered in the back of his head. And if he went to bed, he would more than likely have the dream again, and he would force himself to keep improving all the time, doing more harm than good. This would probably create a constant cycle, until eventually he would alienate his team, his only thoughts hovering on how best to prevent his friends from being killed. His paranoia would consume him completely. Robin had walked that road before, years ago, and it didn't end well.

He shuddered inwardly at the thought of turning into a humorless, one-track-minded jerk that drives his friends away. He had to find a way to make the dreams stop before they destroyed him.

He turned back to Starfire.

"I'll be fine," he said. He wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not.

"You are sure?" she asked.

Beast Boy nodded. "No worries," he smiled. It was forced, but Starfire accepted it and resumed her mission of retrieving sodas for her and Robin. Once she was gone, Beast Boy continued, inadvertently, to think about Raven. He pushed the thoughts into the back of his mind. Liking someone was a very time-consuming activity.

He decided he just needed some fresh air, to think about it all, and what exactly he had to do. He went to his room and grabbed his iPod. He cranked it up, drowning out any other noises, and made his way to the roof.

Walking to the edge, he sat, his legs dangling over. He sighed and lay back, staring at the sky.

_This dream – this night terror – it's killing me. I gotta find a way to turn it off or else I'm gonna end up with a stick up my butt and my best friends hating me. I at least need some help. Help from somebody that can treat this as seriously as I am, and not pass it off as nothing. Every time I see them killed, it's like fate is saying to me: _You're nothing. You think you're a hero, but you're just a little kid playing dress-up. _I can't handle that anymore; especially not after I lost the only person that I can have that sort of conversation with. I mean, Cy is the coolest dude I know – he's my best friend, always has been – but he just doesn't have it in him to talk about really serious stuff. He tries, and that counts for something, but comforting somebody, in this case anyway, takes more than a: "It'll be alright, B. Don't worry about it. It's just a stupid dream." He doesn't know what to say the way… Well, the way Raven did. She just has a way about it, like she totally gets where I'm coming from no matter what I'm talking about._

_Then I had to go and wig out, and totally destroy everything._

_So here I am, on the roof, nobody to talk to, all because this stupid dream is consuming me. I feel crazy sometimes, and I'm getting defensive about everything. Paranoid, too. I wake up so cold, so isolated, so worried about losing the only real family I've got._

_All the time now, I feel like I'm cracking into pieces. I _need_ to talk to someone._

_To Raven._

_I have to apologize. I have to make her understand that lately, I've just been out of sorts and that I was just confused when I kissed her._

_Even if I wasn't. It was awesome. Like, really awesome._

_Keep on track, Beast Boy. You don't get to feel like that about her. All you should be thinking about Raven is how to get her back as your friend so you can keep yourself from going all Looney Tunes and losing the people you love because you're trying too hard to save them. Just wait it out; you'll get over her sooner or later._

_Maybe._

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Raven winced again, and a frown stretched across her face. Her emotions were arguing again, with her and each other, about Beast Boy. Since she couldn't convince them with simple meditation, she decided to go to into her mind, where she might have an easier time convincing them that Beast Boy was not, in fact, the apple of her eye. She grabbed the mirror off of her dresser and looked into it, closing her eyes as a large, red raven's claw grabbed her and pulled her in. She landed, unfortunately, in Happy's realm.

"Raven! It's so good to see you!" Happy said, hugging her. Raven frowned and Happy finally released her. "Are you here to finally admit you like Beast Boy?" She giggled at Raven's blush-covered glare.

"No, I'm not. I'm here to tell you I don't like him. At all," Raven said.

"Aww, why not? Haven't you noticed how much things have changed? How much we've changed? _We_ all have! We totally beat Trigon, and now you're really starting to let yourself be, y'know, yourself. It's perfect! Before, we were always just a little too different and a little too immature to really click. He was pretty cool, but neither of us were ready for anything even close to a relationship. But now? Sure, it's complicated, but it's a very yin-yang kind of complicated. It's a balance that few people ever really find. Plus, how can you not just _love _his eyes? Not to mention that body! Whew! Ever since you told him off for that kiss we _all_ enjoyed, he's really carved himself out of wood! Not that that's a huge thing. Kinda. Him being totally hilarious, though? The best," Happy rambled off very quickly, grinning dreamily. It seemed like she was the spokeswoman for the rest of the pro-Beast Boy emotions.

Raven growled a little. "I do not like Beast Boy! He's still the same immature boy he was a year ago!" she exclaimed. Happy noticed that there was a miniscule hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Brave and Knowledge walked up, Timid slightly behind Brave, hiding from the irate Raven. She sighed, annoyed.

"And we liked him then. A lot," Timid piped up, relatively loud for her typically near-silent presence. When Raven looked at her, she pulled her hood lower and inched behind Brave.

Raven already felt her defenses weakening. "I didn't…" she started, enervated.

"Oh, come _on,_ Rae, he's totally awesome, and he really cares about us. Plus, he's a great fighter, a solid teammate, and just as brave as Robin. Maybe even more so, having admitted how he felt to an already-angry half-demon," Brave put in, appropriately unafraid of the fury building in Raven with each word.

"While he might still act like a child, we were very close with him for a reason. Admit it: you don't exactly hate it when he is goofy or sprightly. Sometimes you even want to join in. Other times, it just makes you laugh. When he isn't acting that way, you find yourself enjoying his company on a more simple level; that of just talking about nothing in particular. Perhaps about a book you just read or a spell you just discovered. He doesn't understand a good bit of what you're talking about, but he listens anyway, because he knows that it's something you're passionate about. He tries to learn more about it, and has even begun to read more lately at your suggestion some couple months ago. You would be hard-pressed to find another friend who'd do that just to have more to talk about. You're exactly the same when it comes to his films, comics, or video games. That doesn't tell you anything?"

"Anyway, all that aside, he has also become a very smart young man over the years, which he is quick to show whenever it becomes necessary," Knowledge added, a little apprehensive. Timid nodded in agreement, still hiding behind Brave.

Raven could feel a fury building inside of her, more of frustration and confusion than of direct anger. It was not long before a red-cloaked figure with four-eyes began to materialize next to the others. Rage. She panicked, terrified of what may happen if she were to let her anger, her demonic side, manifest itself in Nevermore again.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos..." she spoke softly, eyes closed.

Though her father had been defeated, _she _was still part demon, and therefore her anger must constantly be in control, or that part of her, Trigon or no Trigon, will be released much like it had on Dr. Light three years ago. More cordial or not, she still had some rather considerable anger issues.

She opened her eyes, her expression blank, and looked at her emotions.

"So there are parts of us that have grown and improved. That doesn't automatically mean I like him. He's my friend, a very close one, and that's _all _he is. I don't care if he's always been nice, or funny, or easy to talk to, or anything else. I don't care how attractive he is, mentally or physically. I don't-"

She stopped, eyes wide. Her emotions had wide grins plastered on their faces - save for Happy, who's face seemed to consist of 83% smile.

"So you admit it!" Happy said, jumping up and down with glee.

Raven stared at the ground. Had she really just admitted that she likes Beast Boy? That she thinks he's attractive?

"And funny, and nice!" Happy said, still smiling brightly. She giggled. Brave grunted beneath her smile, victorious. Knowledge nodded, smiling slightly. Timid chuckled once or twice, still silent. Raven forgot, momentarily, that they could hear her thoughts, as the thoughts were theirs too.

Raven shook her head. "He's just my friend," she said, staring at the ground, denial strong within her.

"Yeah, but do you want to keep it that way? 'Cause as far as I can tell, relationships are like, absolutely amazing! And fun: Holding hands, whispering to each other all cheesily, hugging, kissing, and having someone that makes you impossibly happy. And he'll always be there for you, just like he always has been! Face it, Raven. You have no more excuses, and nothing else to hide behind. You totally like him!" Happy said, jumping up and down again. Again, she seemed to be acting as the united voice of the rest of the emotions.

Raven shook her head. This wasn't happening. She couldn't be falling for Beast Boy.

"I'm gonna side with the happy one on this," another emotion said. Raven looked up, trying to find the source, but the emotions that were in front of her were looking around too. Then, she noticed an unfamiliar cloak at the back of the group. It was purple.

"Which…?" Raven started to ask her purple-clad clone.

"Love. I'm Love. Specifically, I deal with romance," she said.

Raven blinked. She barely remembered having seen this version of herself before. She recalled brief glimpses, but nothing more. With this latest appearance came a confirmation of sorts. Love had only shown up a few times in the past five years, chief of which being Malchior and Raven became close. Even then, all she saw was a brief glimpse and a smile. Love had never spoken to her before. Like Rage, she seemed to have been locked up, in a way. Of course, her "prison" was built less on the foundation of physical safety and more on emotional security.

"Obviously, and for obvious reasons, I haven't been around much. I'm here now though, and it's not for nothing. Please, for all our sakes, just stop lying to yourself, Raven," Love said, impatient. She seemed irritated. "We want someone to be close to. Someone who would make the term 'best-friend' feel totally and completely insufficient. We want the kind of happiness that everyone wants but nobody can really describe. There's a chance for that right now, and you're hesitating because you're scared. But you know what? I think being scared is a part of it all, and hiding away from it just leaves unanswered questions. Ones that sit in the pit of your stomach and refuse to leave you alone, no matter how long it's been."

Raven felt all sorts of feelings begin to bubble up inside her stomach. _It's Garfield. Beast Boy. He's just too…_

She couldn't finish her thought, not truthfully. Not due to an interruption, but because she had nothing to say about it anymore. They were right; there was nothing in her way but herself.

"Come on, Raven! You like him and you know it, let's go tell him!" Brave exclaimed.

With that, Timid suddenly became very worried. "Wait. What if he doesn't like us?" she asked sadly.

Raven couldn't help but feel worried about this. She shook it off, and looked at her emotions, this time her look and tone was of utter certainty.

"I may have feelings for Beast Boy, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell him," she said.

Love shook her head and disappeared without a word. Happy and Brave looked crestfallen. Knowledge had a look of frustrated understanding. Timid looked divided, stuck between relief and disappointment.

"But Raven! Please? You know you – we – want to be with him!" Happy pleaded.

Brave waved a hand at her, done trying to convince her, and walked away, arms crossed.

Raven looked at the ground. "My mind is made up. And besides, he doesn't like me anymore. He's proven that. If I told him I liked him as much as I do, he'd think of me as an unstable, hypocritical jerk," she said, and opened a portal back to her room.

She was back on her bed, the recent occurrences playing in her head like a skipping record. More than most, she heard Love's comment on fear over and over. She pushed it out of her mind, and sighed. A single tear, fueled by confusion and sheer anxiety, rolled down her cheek. _What do I do?_

After a while, she sat up. "I need some fresh air," she said to herself. She stood and made her way to the roof. When she opened the door, the air brushing past her, she saw Beast Boy lying near the edge, eyes closed, with headphones in his ears. She suddenly felt a strange, binding nervousness come over her. She wanted to go back inside, back to her room, and hide away. But she couldn't. She wanted to go talk to him as well, taking Love and Brave's advice and telling him. The decisions she'd made so steadfastly only a few minutes before were now cast into question at the mere sight of him.

So, she just stood there, wavering in the doorway. She caught herself staring at him, examining his every feature, and she blushed. _I can't believe this... _She said, remarking the absolutely ludicrous way she had taken a liking to him. He was supposed to be her friend, nothing more. It hadn't been anything but that for three years, why should it change now?

_Because _everything_ has_ _changed. He's always so nice to me, even when I treat him badly or insult him. He always tries to make me feel better, and he always sees the bright side of things, even when things are their worst. He's caring, he's protective, he's smart, he's funny, he's a dork in a weirdly adorable way. We can talk about anything, and we feed off of each other. He makes me laugh and be a little bit weirder. I make him slow down and relax and get a little more pensive. Everything we do is an experiment with each other, exploring ourselves, and when it isn't it's just two friends having fun, loving each other's company because, above everything else, we just work. In the end, words don't get to explain that connection._

_He not only accepts me for all that I am, but he likes it. He treats it like everything that's different about me is just another interesting quirk. My anger issues, my creepy habits, my gothic nature. And I like his little oddities; his immaturity, his lame jokes, his messiness._

_We just work. _

_And I don't get to be the sad, isolated girl anymore. I have no reason to be._

_I don't want to be._

_I guess the only questions left are: How sure am I that I want to be with him? How sure am I that telling him is the right thing to do? _She shook her head, and sighed at the mess. She watched as his eyes slowly opened, either waking from a sleep or wishing to see the light of a beautiful, late summer day before the sun fell.

"…_being scared is a part of it all, and hiding away from it just leaves unanswered questions."_

As he sat up, she made her decision.


	3. Facing Reality

**I'd like to thank all you guys for reading this, and hope you bear with me, as this chapter is..Meh. At least, I think so. You tell me. Also; I don't know how I keep managing to make each new chapter so long. I barely cleared a thousand words with my first edition...Huh....oh well, R&R! :D**

Beastboy almost laughed at the irony. If You Only Knew by Shinedown played on his iPod. Out of 6,000 some songs, this had to be the one.

But he didn't laugh, instead it filled his head again with thoughts of Raven, and how he had gradually fallen for the "creepy" goth girl that he had been in constant arguments with. He felt wave after wave of doubt flood his entire being, crushing any hope that remained.

_ Who would ever want to be with an immaturity train wreck like myself? _He asked himself a rhetorical question.

He really liked her, maybe even loved her. He shook his head.

_ Don't be crazy. You don't love her! She's your friend! That's it!_He scolded himself.

He thought about her more and more every day, about how amazing she was, about how mean she was, about how complex she was, or how isolated she was. It was constant, and he couldn't understand why. They were two very different people. Of course, ever since Trigon was defeated, along with the Brotherhood of Evil, she _has _been more open. Laughing, smiling, talking with the team more, girl talks with Star, planning with Robin. She had become almost normal. But he was glad that she wasn't, it was what made her...her. The creepy mysterious girl he had come to know was there, but so was a more open and friendly one. She was everything he wanted from someone, and he wouldn't be able to survive if she left the team...

His eyes flew open. _Oh man...I do love her..._

_ There's no way she'd love me though. Not after I kissed her like that. Hell, that wasn't even a kiss. That was a weak attempt at trying to make her realize something. I may as well give up, seeing as she still probably hates me. Plus I promised her I was done with the whole 'dating' thing. If I broke it, she would hate me even more... We just repaired our friendship, dammit, I can't break it all now. Not again. _He sighed.

He sat up and stretched, gazing at the horizon. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Raven walking towards him, her hood up. He swallowed hard.

"Um...Hi Raven," he smiled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hi Beastboy," she replied calmly, in her too familiar monotone voice.

Not wanting to make a fool of himself, staring at her or something worse, he decided he would leave her be. When he relayed this to her, however, she asked him to stay.

"Huh? Why?" he asked, confused.

"Because, I want to to talk to you," she explained.

Curious, he waited. The kiss was forgotten, and any relationship plans he had discarded. So... what?

She stood next to him, looking out to the sunset. After a few moments, she turned to him and looked him in the eyes. He felt a wave of nervousness sweep him into a field of uncertainty.

"I want to apologize for what I said to you a few weeks ago," she told him.

He looked confused. "It's ok, I probably deserved it. You were right. I let my emotions get the best of me, and I did something that I now realize was foolish, and, as you pointed out, disgusting," he replied.

She shook her head. "No, you didn't deserve that. It was an accident, though a horrid one, and I overreacted. I should have just walked away, instead of getting so angry. You're always so nice to me, and I never return the favor, and for that I'm sorry Beastboy."

He found himself staring into her eyes, without anything to say. He finally managed to find his voice.

"Seriously Raven, it's fine. Besides, what you said inspired me to be ready for anything. I need to be smarter, faster, and stronger if I want to be a part of this team forever. Now the future is looking better," he looked at her, "and hopeful." She didn't catch it, but the hopeful part was directed at her. Hope of earning her love someday, building a family, and living a life he could only dream of. She did detect, however, that while he meant what he said, his usual tone of happiness and positivity was replaced by a tone of loss and uncertainty. She felt, no, _knew _that it was caused by her actions. As for the hope, he had disguised it, morphing it into a hope of a better life in general, instead of with her, so she wouldn't read his emotions. He knew to do this, since last time it caused him good blasting.

He was eighteen, and he had to start planning for what to do once the Titans were over. He had come up with a plan, and if it didn't pull through, he would become a lone superhero, saving the city he chose to live in.

Raven slowly started to realize just how much her opinion mattered to him. He had finally grown up a little because _she _didn't like how he was. She had proven it by throwing him down a hall and screaming at him... and all of it had been a facade, a fake, a lie. Just to hide her feelings. She felt terrible because of this. He had taken her words so seriously, and he had probably been really hurt by them, even if he DID kiss her. That's all it was. A kiss.

"I didn't realize my words would have such an affect on you," she said, staring into the sky. Her gaze traveled to the ground as she waited for Beastboy to respond.

"Don't sweat it," he assured her. "Besides, don't you like the new me?" he asked eagerly, grinning weakly. It wasn't very reassuring. He was nervous, and she assumed it was because he was afraid she would hurt him again. She shoved the emotions away, wishing to get it over with before her emotions went haywire.

_ You have no idea, _she thought.

She turned back to him. "I can't complain. Much more like the adult you should be," she replied, monotone, though she was grinning.

He smiled back, he meant it this time. It was quiet for a while.

"So is that all you wanted to say? Or did you want to meditate?" he wondered.

She hesitated. "I just...wanted to tell you that I-"

She was interrupted by the alarm that was built into her Titan's communicator. She cursed and praised it, for interrupting her, and also saving her from eternal embarrassment. She answered, hiding another blush beneath her hood.

Beastboy gazed at the communicator, secretly dreading the inevitable news of an attack, as now would have been a great time to tell Raven. Robin appeared, already in the T-Car with Cyborg and Starfire.

"So that's why you didn't show up in the common room," he said, noticing they were outside. "Cinderblock is attacking the city. We'll meet you there. Sending coordinates," he said, and hung up. Within seconds a map appeared with Cinderblock's location.

Raven shut the communicator and turned to Beastboy, who nodded. They took off and flew in silence.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

When the Titans returned, it was dark, the clock ticking it's way towards eleven. Robin and Star went to bed, in Robin's room. The others didn't dare think of what they did in there, sleeping together. The room was soundproof, which made the others practically gag. Cyborg went to repair himself before he went to bed. His arm had been dented by Cinderblock's relentless attack. He ventured into his workshop, while Raven walked briskly to her room. Beastboy turned on the TV, not really watching.

Raven hovered above her bed, deep in thought.

_ I almost told him...What was I thinking? _she thought to herself.

_ That he needed to be told. You know you can't hide your emotions from him forever. Eventually, nervousness will seize you, and you'll end up blowing out a light or two. Maybe worse. He'll confront you, demanding to know what is wrong in his perpetually caring fashion, and you'll either have to lie, which we know you cannot do to him, guilty enough as you are, plus you are a terrible actress, or tell him the truth. I believe you know what you must do, even if it means yet another awkward moment with Garfield, _Knowledge told her.

Raven shook her head. _I can't believe this. First, he kisses me and I blast him halfway down the hall. Then, I fall for him, and don't even have it in me to tell him, especially after he swore he didn't like me, and would respect our friendship, accepting and returning apologies...assuming he really _did _forgive me._

She thought for a long while. _I'm seventeen and I've never even had a real boyfriend. I can now express myself freely, save for anger. Why do I still confine myself to such an emotional isolation where I frequently ignore the attempts to bond or communicate with my friends, even as I know they are the most important thing to me? My entire purpose has been swept away. I have no more reason to hide myself, or dread the days of the future. No more excuses to stay locked in my room. I have lost my direction, and I feel so...empty. I need the companionship that I have shunned for so many years, and now the one who strives the most to be nothing but my friend __had fallen in love with me, and I threw down the hall for it. He even landed square on his neck. And now, he isn't interested. His attitude on the roof leads me to believe as such, reinforcing his promise._

She sighed, tired and bored. She laid down on her bed and attempted to sleep. She thought about recent events as she drifted casually into unconsciousness.

Beastboy finished working out, and walked to the kitchen for a quick snack before bed. Turning over recent events in his mind. Drowsiness settled in, and he zombie-hobbled his way to his room. Glancing at Raven's door, he felt something coming. Something bad. Something he had prepared for...He just didn't know what yet. He fell asleep, ready for anything.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Raven awoke from a sleep, strangely, filled with dreams. Of Beastboy. The cliché of this mess was destroying her. She shook her head, and walked out of her room, down the hall to the showers. She entered the bathroom, and stripped down, blinking the sleep from her violet eyes. She showered for a long while, contemplating the idea of telling Beastboy. When. How. If. It was all so complicated, and hardly worth the effort. She was already convinced he would say that he didn't return the feeling, apologize awkwardly, and move on with his day. She exited and made her way to the main room, into the kitchen. Preparing some tea, she watched the sunrise. It was always beautiful, and calmed her even on the worst of days.

The next few hours were spent by Robin's practicing with Starfire, Raven's reading and meditation, Cyborg's video games and T-Car repairs and enhancements, and Beastboy's relaxing, finally. He was done working out, building up. He had become toned, and as strong as the Boy Wonder. Though his skills were average, he had enough strength, smarts, and endurance to fight as long as Robin. Not as well, not by a long shot. He probably never would. But he was better, and could handle himself with or without his powers. He finally relaxed, and stopped studying so much. Stopped obsessively training. Only when necessary, when he was working on his free-running. Enough to keep his skills refined, and improving slightly each day. He sat on the couch, watching Cyborg play games.

"Yo, BB! Haven't seen you in here for a while. You better not be turning into a Robin on me, man!" He laughed.

"Nope, just finally gettin' organized. Getting ready for anything that comes at me," Beastboy replied. It sounded so strange, and it was hard to explain. But Cyborg seemed to understand.

"Such as?" Cyborg said.

"Well, If my powers don't work, or I can't morph under some situation, I need to be able to do something, like fight hand-to-hand. I'm no Robin, not by a long shot, but I'm pretty sure I can handle myself if something goes wrong. I won't need to depend on you guys," Beastboy said happily.

"Not gonna lie, B, that's a pretty good plan you got there. Under Robin's training, you'd be just like him in a few years."

"Dude, you better mean physically. I don't wanna dress up in traffic-light colored spandex! That's totally lame! Not to mention that hair. He could stab someone with it, its so full of gel!" Beastboy shuddered.

Cyborg chuckled, and, though unnoticed, Raven even smiled, holding in a laugh.

About an hour later, they were scarfing down lunch. Beastboy had a tofu burger, Cyborg a huge, pulled pork sandwich, Robin a burger and fries, Starfire with...something..., and Raven with her tea, and a small sandwich comprised of turkey, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. They all ate in silence, but once everyone finished, they burst out with talk of random, insignificant things. Or at least, that's how Raven saw it.

The room flashed red. An alarmed blared. The city was in trouble, and the Titans were ready. The monitor flashed on to display the culprit, the attack zone, and threat level.

The Titans gasped. The picture was of their long-time arch nemesis. Slade. He was back, and attacking the city with a small army of Sladebots.

"Slade...," Robin grumbled.

"Aw man! I thought we finally beat him out of the villain game!" Cyborg groaned

"Cyborg is right, did we not subdue Slade one final time?" asked Starfire, to anyone with an answer.

"Apparently not," Raven said quietly.

"This guy just doesn't quit," Beastboy moaned, upset by the sudden disturbance.

"Titans! Move out!" Robin shouted, and they all made their way to the attack sight in the T-Car. It was minutes before they were standing in his way, in the middle of the street in the inner city. Shops and buildings had already been set ablaze, and he had been waiting for the right moment to strike the Titans. He had built something. Something only one Titan had seen coming.

"Hello Titans," Slade said calmly.

"You're going down, Slade," stated Robin, sounding more than sure.

"Now, now, Robin. I'm growing tired of this old routine. Can we just move on with the battle? Or, if you prefer, you could simply surrender, seeing as I have quite the upperhand," Slade remained calm, walking towards the Titans.

A small disk in his hand, only noticed by the Titan with the best eyesight. Too late, he noticed.

"Robin! Look out!" Beastboy called, as Slade blocked Robin's staff, and jabbed him in the neck. The disk turned red, and electric archs sprouted from it, coursing through Robin's body. The boy wonder fell, unconscious.

At that point, the T-Car was blasted backwards 40-some feet, the bang ringing across the city, accompanied by Cyborg's pain filled cry of "MY BABY!"

It was the beginning of Beastboy's dream...In reality.

The whole team gasped, and Starfire sprinted forward, followed closely by the rest of the Titans. Slade jumped away, though a punch from Starfire knocked him back into the crowd of Sladebots. Raven, Beastboy, and Cyborg fought through them, allowing Starfire to attack Slade. She was more than a match for him.

Slade stood up, and pressed a few buttons on his arm. Dozens of small satellite dishes appeared on the building, aimed at the remaining Titans. Beastboy froze. His dream couldn't come true. There was no way.

The dishes flicked on with a loud humming noise, and Starfire, who was charging a massive starbolt that would've easily killed Slade, watched in horrific confusion as the energy flickered, and vanished. Slade kicked her in the neck, and she tumbled forward. She was blasted in the neck with another, long range, electro-disk. The voltages must be unbelievably high, and set specifically for each Titans tolerance for pain. Genius. With that, Starfire was down for the count as well.

Cyborg was unaffected, and he continued to bash and blast his way to Slade. Slade, unsuspecting, as he was busy with Starfire, was slammed in the back, and crashed into a building. Cyborg chased, and found himself in a giant empty room. His sensors told him Slade was everywhere. Radar jammers. Slade jumped from the shadows, and kicked Cyborg into a pillar, following up by planting the disk on him aswell, shutting his system down. Specifically designed for each Titan. Slade had had a year to plan and work at this, and all of it was going according to.

Beastboy, unable to change, fought with his hands. He held his own, seeing as only 12 or so Sladebots remained when Slade activated the disruptor rays. His dream had come true. Unbelievably, and impossibly, it happened. His greatest guess was the animal senses and instincts in him formed the dream. He fought, shocked by his premonition.

Raven was fighting her best hand-to-hand, and eventually took to the air. The Sladebots blasted at her, and soon she was tired, and almost ready to give up.

Beastboy continued, more worn out than he'd ever been without a single change, to destroy the Sladebots. Several cuts and bruises, possibly a broken rib or two, he destroyed the final bot. Almost absent of strength, he looked up to a less-beaten Raven. She flew down, and landed next to Beastboy.

"We have to get out of here, we need our powers if we want to save the others," she said quickly, seeming only slightly panicked. Beastboy summoned his remaining strength, and prepared to taunt Slade, coax him towards somewhere where they could use their powers. But Slade was gone, along with the other Titans.

"No!" Beastboy howled. His dream was different. He had no idea what to do. Nothing left in him to give. He had failed again.

"Beastboy... We have to leave. Get somewhere, anywhere, safe. Now," Raven said, trying to calm a visably distraught changeling.

"We have to find them. I won't give up. I can still-" he cringed, his yelling hurt his bruised ribs. "I can still fight."

She sighed. There was no convincing him. There never was. "How do you expect we find them?" She tried to discourage him.

"The T-Car! It has sensors on it, the communicators are automatically tracked!" he exclaimed, excited. "Yes! Studying paid off for once!"

"Slight problem, Beastboy," she said, and pointed to the flipped over, and beaten up T-Car dozens of feet backwards.

"We have to try it."

She sighed, defeated, and they ran to the T-Car. Beastboy checked everywhere inside, no power at all. "The whole thing crapped out. Not a volt of power, and the engine was damaged in the blast. We're not going to find them in time. I know it," Beastboy said, wallowing in self-loathing. He failed to save his team. He failed to stop Slade. He failed to redeem himself. His plan had failed, and he collapsed. He wasn't a hero. He was a green freak without a future. Sure, he was being harsh, and way too hard on himself, and Raven pointed this out. Heartbreak makes your judgment less than rational. He screwed up. He would get over it. But for now, he felt like his world crashed down. Why? Because he had lost family after family, and now this one was going down the tubes, following his future with Raven. Overdramatic? Yes. Unnecessary? Not entirely.

A light turned on in his head. He had studied this. In case of power failure for any sort of technology Cyborg had built.

"I can do this," he breathed. He set to work on fixing the car, as an unknowing Raven meditated some thirty feet away, giving Beastboy his space. He was greatful. Within 2 minutes, he had the screen on. Voice commands and responses out of the question, but it showed where the Titans were. "Raven! I know where they are!"

She sighed and glared at him. "And how's that brainiac?"

He glared at her, and explained. "I fixed the sensors. Star, Robin, and Cyborg are at..." He looked out over the ocean, to the massive T that dominated the skyline. "The tower?"

As he said this, Slade appeared behind him.

"Well done, my dear boy," Slade said, appearing from the shadows.

Beastboy shot up, and spun around, ready to fight. "Why are they home? What are you doing?"

"In good time, Beastboy. Raven, how are you my dear? I haven't seen you since your birthday."

"Enough games, Slade. What are you doing with our friends?" Raven demanded.

"You'll be joining them soon enough. Then you can say goodbye to your friends, and your beloved tower." Slade grinned malevolently.

Beastboy and Raven's eyes flew wide with shock, then they glared.

"That won't happen, we'll stop you!" Beastboy shouted. Raven was already in a fighting stance.

"Come now, child. You don't really believe that do you?" He jumped and kicked Beastboy in the side, sending him headfirst into the T-Car. Raven tried to fly away, but Slade was faster. He jumped into the air, using the car as a spring board, and tackled Raven.

Beastboy's ribs screamed, and he had a splitting headache, blood trickled from a cut in his head. He opened his eyes, and his vision was coated with dancing lights. After a few seconds, he saw straight again. He wished, though, he couldn't. He wished this was a dream again. No longer a reality. He would tolerate it every night if it meant this would end.

Slade was holding Raven by her neck. She was gasping for air, and Beastboy swore he could hear her gasp his name.


	4. Conflicts

**Bit of a short chapter today. A little rushed, in my mind, but oh well. Enjoy! Review guys! PLEASE! D: Next chapter either tomorrow or late tonight, not sure yet. I'll be gone to Mexico for a week, but I'll keep writing there as much as I can. ON WITH THE STORY! :D**

Beastboy could feel it coming, but he knew it would never happen. The Beast thrashed and howled inside of him, but had no way to escape. He felt it's power though. Insurmountable power. He was under complete control of The Beast, and it was amazing. It gave him focus. Allowed him to use more than the miniscule amount of potential that humans used. He was faster. Stronger. More battle ready.

A deep growl escaped him, and he stood. He climbed over the car, and sprinted at Slade with shocking speed. Sliding, he kicked Slade's legs out from under him. He caught Raven, and set her down gently. He whipped around and faced Slade, who was clapping.

"Well done, Beastboy. I'm afraid it won't quite be enough though," Slade taunted. He assumed a fighting stance, and it began. But it wasn't enough. Slade was faster, stronger, and an amazing fighter, as much as the Titans hated to admit it. Beastboy was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. He had to try, though. For Robin, and Starfire, and Cyborg. For Raven.

Beastboy struck quickly, with precision. He focused on pressure points, seeing as that's all Robin taught him. It was, Robin said, all he would need. Slade blocked and retaliated each blow, and the fight was, against all odds, close to even. Beastboy was blind with rage, The Beast consuming him. But he was still weak, and The Beast couldn't handle everything. Slade got in many blows, each seemed to hit Beastboy in his weakest areas. His bruises seared with pain, but he kept it up. He landed a few good hits on Slade as well, though they were no where near enough to stop him, only annoy and enrage. The fight was over in minutes, Beastboy crumpled to the ground, battered and bruised. He didn't have the strength to stand. He needed rest. His injuries weren't severe, but he had been fighting for a good thirty minutes straight.

Slade stood over Beastboy, a new disk, green, in his hand. "I told you. Don't worry, you'll be with your friends soon," he said, and leaned down.

Beastboy snapped his eyes shut, failure and depression strong in him.

He felt no disk in place, but heard a strained groan from Raven, and snapped his eyes open.

She had grabbed Slade's hand, and slammed it down onto his own neck. Slade had forgotten about her. Beastboy was a good enough fighter to distract him, and Raven seized the opportunity and beat Slade. Beastboy's training worked. They saved the city.

Electricity coursed through Slade, and he fell unconscious. She jumped back, and watched the villain fall, then made her way over to Beastboy. She helped him up, and they looked at the mess that was once a street. She supported his weight, so he wouldn't fall over.

"Thanks Rae...," he gasped.

"You owe me big time Garfield," she said.

He nodded, and examined the area. "We have to get to the tower and save the others, Slade could've placed a timer on the-" he was interrupted by a rapid beeping noise. They both looked at the body of Slade, or so they had thought. It was another trick. A robot of Slade, with a comm unit so he could speak to them. The beeping picked up pace, and at the last second, Beastboy realized what was happening.

From there, everything seemed to be in slow motion. He grabbed Raven, and threw her behind the T-Car with his remaining strength. There was no time to tackle her, their hang-time would make them too late. So he threw her, hard, behind the T-Car with his remaining strength, and tried his best to get away from the inevitable explosion.

He made it about seven feet when the body detonated, and Beastboy went flying through the air, landing on his arm, and rolling to a halt. He was hurt. Badly. Blood trickled from several cuts on his back, from the shrapnel of the metal body. He was sporting a broken wrist, as he landed badly on his arm. An intense ringing in his ears sang to him for a few minutes. He lay still, waiting for some sort of confirmation that he was alive.

Raven stared in complete shock.

_He saved me. He risked his own life to save me! The idiot... _she thought. She immediately got up, and sprinted over to him. He groaned in pain, and looked up at her.

"The others," he whispered, it was so faint that if Raven had been more than a foot away, there was no way she would've heard it. He yelled from the pain in his wrist and ribs. Two ribs and a wrist. Fantastic.

"I've got it. You hold on," Raven said, panicked and worried for him. Not until then did she believe herself unable to exist without him.

Beastboy drifted into unconsciousness, and when he woke up to the sound of Raven repeating his name, and saying she needed him, he swore he had died and gone to heaven.

But when he awoke, he found himself surrounded by his friends in the tower's infirmary.

"Guys? What..what happened?" he asked.

"You did it Beastboy. You and Raven stopped Slade from destroying our home. Once Raven got here, and took the electro-disks off of us, we all fought and got control of the tower. Raven said you held your own against Slade for a bit. Impressive. We'll have to spar again some time," Robin spoke.

Raven glared at him. "He just woke up. He's wrapped in bandages with a broken wrist and ribs, and you're talking about training?" she yelled.

"Raven's right, man. Let BB rest before you get all in his face with sparring," Cyborg agreed.

"Let us celebrate a victory against Slade!" shouted Starfire with glee.

"Let's not yell right next to me," Beastboy cringed, sending a joking look at the worried Starfire. The others laughed, and Raven rolled her eyes.

"Uh, could you guys get out for a sec? I wanna talk to Raven about something," he said. He wanted to ask about premonitions, about how she was. Tell her the truth about how he felt.

Robin and Starfire shrugged and left to Robin's room. Yuck. Cyborg left, confused.

Raven shifted uncomfortably.

"Raven, I need to talk to you about something kinda weird," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his good arm.

She sat, and waited. She was positive it was about his feelings again, and she was unbelievably happy. But she didn't show it.

"What do you know about premonitions?" he asked.

She felt reality slap her in the face. He was over her. End of story.

"Why?" she asked, wanting anything but to talk right now.

"Because, I've sorta been having this dream. And, believe it or not, it was almost indentical to what happened today...," he said awkwardly.

Raven sat and stared. That was her dream. All month long, her dream. She brought herself back to reality, and verified.

"What happened in the dream?" she asked, no longer monotone but worried.

He explained the events of the dream, every single detail, and she sat and listened intently. It all matched up. They had been sharing the dream for the past month. He had seen her cry his name, with love, care, and hopelessness all balled into one. Had that finally pushed him over the edge? That vision of her caring? Is that, could that, be what prompted him to tell her how he felt? She couldn't be sure. All she knew is she had been sharing a premonition with Beastboy, and they both expressed insurmountable caring for each other in it.

But how?

She had premonitions every now and then, yes. But Beastboy? Never.

Had she projected them to him? Had her desire for him to save her been so great, that she actually sent the dream to him? Sure, she can see into other peoples emotions and feelings, but...create them? Creating the feelings in Beastboy at night would kickstart the dream, thanks to his subconscious and care for her. That power was beyond her control, and she praised God it was the only one so far. Her panic in the dream must have unlocked something. It didn't matter. They had the same dream thanks to Raven, and now they had to talk about it.

"Raven? Hellooo? You there?" Beastboy was watching her stare into space, complete shock in her eyes.

It was her turn to explain, so she did. She told him how she must have projected the dream, minus the liking/loving him. She wasn't sure which it was yet.

It was quiet for a while.

"That's pretty weird, Rae," he said, breaking the dreadful silence.

"Raven," she corrected. "And I know it is, it shocked me too. I'm sorry I panicked you Beastboy, I never-"

"Sorry? Dude, because of that we beat Slade. If anything, you should get like...an award or something," he said matter-of-factly. "Don't be sorry, Rae. Sorry, Raven." he corrected after a stern look, "It's all for the best."

"I guess you're right. You did really well out there, Beastboy. I owe you my life," she said, staring into his emerald eyes.

"No, you don't. You saved me too remember? We're even," he said, grinning his trademark, single-fanged grin. He looked into her eyes with nothing but gratitude and hope.

"I didn't break a wrist, or suffer half a dozen cuts on my back for it. Let me heal you, at least. I'd feel awful if I didn't," she said, voice carrying a care that Beastboy hadn't heard in a long time. Not since she helped him get over Terra the year prior.

He nodded approval, and she walked over. Hands glowing blue, she placed them over his arm and ribs. He felt a soothing, cool sensation, like water running gently over his pains, carrying them away. He blinked, and felt the fractures quickly heal together, and smiled at Raven, who was tired from the process. Beastboy removed his cast and the bandages over his ribs. She had even gotten the cuts on his back, and he removed those too. Refreshed, he sat up and climbed off the bed.

"Thank you, Raven," he said with great care, eternally greatful.

She felt it all hit her at once. He had broken himself, battled Slade, and saved her life from an explosion that caused him so much pain, after Slade had punished him so much already. He cared for her more than anyone else had ever shown. Not only had he stuck with her to the end of Trigon, but he continued to risk himself and his being to keep her safe, not to mention the rest of the team. Now he stood in front of her, even more determined to protect the team. He was her hero, her best friend, her first love. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she gazed at the man who had never done anything but care and help her, and the man she had chased away a day too early. She hugged him tightly.

Beastboy was shocked, to say the least. He hugged her tightly, and knew that their friendship was stronger than ever, even if he wished for the relationship that would never come.

"Thank you, Beastboy," she said. "For everything."

She pulled away, and Beastboy looked at the empath, who looked back at him, her expression giving nothing away.

"Well, you're welcome Raven," he said, still shocked. "It's my job, after all."

"No, it's not. Not to get yourself hurt, or blown up, or attacked because of me," she said a little loudly, angry with herself.

"Well, Rae, it's easy to risk yourself for someone who means so much to you," he said. She cursed herself, thinking he meant as a sister again. She was dead wrong.

The conflict was building within them both. The needed to tell each other, or they would explode. But they had condemned themselves with promises.

It was quiet.

Silence coated the air, and the tension built.

They were staring into eachother's eyes expectantly, waiting for one to say something or leave.

Before he could stop himself, Beastboy pressed his lips against Raven's.


	5. The Beginning

**Ok, so you guys apparently are liking the story :D I want to show you guys a couple stories that really, REALLY deserve the mention. They're by two amazing authors on this site.**

** What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stranger – ChicoMagnifico**

** Collateral Damage - ****Novus Ordo Seclorum**

** Thanks for all the support, guys. Keep reviewing, it keeps me going! As for this chapter, they may be a little OOC, but love will do that to you ^^**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

They had been kissing for all of a second before the heart monitor blew up. Raven pulled away, and stared at Beastboy, shock in her eyes. Beastboy cringed, and began apoligizing.

Raven interrupted him with "I have to go." She sprinted out of the room before Beastboy could stop her. It didn't mean he couldn't chase her.

She entered her room, and ran to the mirror. She needed to know what was happening. Why she realized it now. She always had loved him, ever since their visit to Nevermore. She assumed it was brotherly, and she assumed wrong. Not until now did she realize what her emotions were. She figured, since the love she felt for Robin and Cyborg were different, it was that he was annoying, so it was a more strained love. Oh how wrong she was. She glared into the mirror, and immediately was sucked into a meeting of her emotions. Happy, Timid, Knowledge, the newest, Love, Bravery, Lust, and Hope. Rage was under lockdown, inside Raven.

"Hello, Raven," all but Happy, Love, and Hope said in unison. They were, believe it or not, annoyed with Raven's actions.

"Why didn't any of you help me? Why am I just now realizing my love for Gar?" Raven asked of them all, a bit annoyed.

"Because, Raven, we didn't know either. We _are_ you, you know," Happy said.

"I didn't realize what it was. Not until he kissed us. Now that I think about it, it's all so...obvious. He always asked to hang out, always tried to make us smile, and every time part of you wanted nothing more than to say yes, and laugh with him. But you didn't. Why? I don't know for sure," Love spoke softly.

"I do," Knowledge whispered. "I, pardon me, we, were too afraid to let anyone close to our heart, in that sense, because we knew they would only get hurt. We were even reluctant with the Titans at first. But we knew if anyone could help, it would be them, so we didn't have a choice but to embrace them as family. Anyway, we faked like we disliked him, and eventually were convinced ourselves, and we believed it true. We didn't want to put anyone through the pain of losing their love, so we went numb, and didn't ever dare to love, or even like anyone as more than a friend. When we defeated Trigon, we allowed it, but our affection for Garfield remained dormant and forgotten. Garfield rekindled our affection with the kiss that Rage didn't allow, accidentally throwing him down the hallway. When he nearly died for us twice, we realized how much he truly meant, and your inner conflict reasoned that there was no reason to stay alone anymore. When reality knocks on your door, ready to claim someone close to you, you finally realize how much they mean. Garfield means more to us than anything, and now's our chance to be with him," Knowledge finished. The others nodded in agreement.

Raven just stood and stared. "How do you know for sure? How do you know it's not just some..shallow affection?"

"Because Raven, I'm in your mind. I, basically, am your subconscious," Knowledge said.

"So I always liked him? And now, after all that's happened this month, I may even love him?" Raven demanded, perplexed by the shocking events.

"Duh!" laughed Happy. She cheered up fast.

"So what now? He'll be at my door any minute, what do I do?" Raven asked, worried.

"Talk to him," began Happy.

"Tell him everything," Knowledge continued.

"Be with him," Love said.

"Forever," Hope finished. It was eery when they did that. They never missed a beat.

Raven swallowed. This was going to go one of two ways. Really well and easy, or extremely awkward and difficult. She prayed Beastboy had a plan, because never had she ever imagined herself in such a situation. She sighed, and focused. In a matter of seconds she was back in her room. Right on cue, as she heard a light tap on her door, followed by Beastboy calling her name.

"Raven? Can I talk to you? Please don't kill me, I just wanna talk." He knocked again. "Raven, please? I know you're in there, I already checked the roof."

She slowly made her way to the door. Taking a breath, she slid the door open, to reveal the green changeling waiting. He stepped back, fear in his eyes. But also... confidence? He looked ready. Almost like he wouldn't take no for an answer. Raven had to be honest with herself, if she was thinking of telling him no, she actually would have been intimidated. It was a calm, serene attitude. Almost detached. He was ready for rejection.

Raven stood awkwardly. She had no idea how to start, and Beastboy realized it was he who had to say something.

"Raven, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have- I can't believe that I did that, I mean-"

"Beastboy," Raven said quietly.

But he persisted, as if she never spoke. "How could I have done that? I promised you, and now you probably hate me more than ever, and you probably ran because you thought if you stayed you would've killed me, and- Ugh! How could I screw this up again?!" He had surely gone insane, asking and answering himself. He was obviously scared, and he rambled, praying to hit the right button, and switch off Raven's fury. But it was never there in the first place, so Raven simply continued to say his name, louder each time, trying to shut him up.

He continued rambling for nearly a minute before Raven did something that no one would have ever expected from the gothic empath who, her entire life, seeked and embraced cold isolation.

She, as uncharacteristically as it was, kissed him.

Not so much passionate, as a shut-the-hell-up-so-I-can-freaking-talk kiss. But it changed into a kiss that meant something, and he kissed her back, utterly shocked to his core. It was a kiss. A long one, but it remained chaste.

She pulled away, blushing uncontrollably and staring at the ground.

Beastboy only stood, staring straight ahead like he was just slapped by God himself. "Dude...," he said quietly.

Raven couldn't believe herself. She had been so swept up by her emotions to the point where she just... let go, and let her heart do what it told her to do, for the first time in her life. And she liked it. She finally looked at Beastboy, who was watching her carefully, fearing her snapping back to her normal self and blasting him halfway to Hell.

"You aren't the one who should be apoligizing," she finally said, no longer monotone but assertive.

"I'm not?" he said, more confused than he's ever been.

"No, you're not. I am," she said quietly.

Beastboy was too confused to respond, so he sent her a look that said 'Explain. For the love of God, explain! Please?!'

She did. "I'm not mad that you kissed me. Not anymore. I'm not mad that you broke your promise. I'm mad because I didn't realize how I felt until it was too late and I had driven you away...," she told him. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, and I'm sorry I've always been so mean to you... there's a reason for it. I just," she paused. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Just tell me what's going on, Raven. Do you like me or don't you?" Beastboy asked her, looking straight into her eyes.

She simply looked away, then back at him. She gave herself away, and Beastboy grinned, then looked confused again.

"Then why did you yell at me? And like...act like you hate me all these years? Why now? Is it because I'm taller? Buffer? Wha-"

"No, no! Trust me, that's not it."

"Explain?"

"Can I get some tea to calm down first?"

"I couldn't stop you if I tried," he said, smiling weakly.

She moved past him and walked quickly to the main room, Beastboy followed cautiously.

As she prepared a cup of tea, Beastboy sat on a stool, waiting impatiently. Finally, she sipped on her tea, and looked at him. Sighing, she set the cup down, and explained.

"I... I always sort of liked you. Once you were in my head, and helped me beat Trigon in Nevermore, I've always liked you more than a friend. But I was scared. Scared to be with someone, 'cause I was scared I would hurt them beyond repair. So, eventually, I shut down, and convinced myself I never liked you, and I always had disliked or found you annoying. After Trigon was defeated," she sipped her tea, "I allowed myself to feel again, but I was still convinced I didn't like you. When you kissed me, part of me was still scared, so I yelled and tried to discourage you. But that had made me realize that I did, in fact, like you. A lot. But I had shunned you, and I thought it a lost cause. When you nearly died for me, I grew even more affectionate of you." What had Knowledge said? "When reality knocks on your door, ready to claim someone close to you, you finally realize how much they mean," Raven concluded, staring at the table. She looked up at Beastboy, who was grinning ear to ear.

"You always liked me?" he asked, desiring confirmation. He loved the sound of it.

She nodded.

"Well, you were there when I pretty much threw myself at you," he said, a small chuckle following. Raven let a small grin show.

"Well, it's all out there. Now what?" Raven asked, a slight blush had crept up into her cheeks, and she was shifting awkwardly, and grinning to her self.

"How about dinner?" Beastboy said in an extremely unsure tone, an awkward grin and hope filled eyes pleading for her to say it wasn't a joke, make it clear that he wasn't being Punk'D or anything like that.

She nodded. "That sounds nice." She felt strange saying such a thing, but it passed when Beastboy spoke.

"This Saturday, we could go at about seven, if that's ok. Anywhere you'd like to go in particular?" he asked.

"A little family-owned diner downtown I've been meaning to check out. That ok with you?" she asked, nervous.

He nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"Good. Looking forward to it," Raven said, she couldn't believe she was saying it though. Raven smiled, then yawned. "I'm gonna go to bed," she said.

Beastboy was tired too, the day had been so stressful. The battle with Slade felt like aeons ago.

He nodded. "Night, Rae," he said, smiling at her.

She felt so different. She was smiling and talking and feeling. She felt like she could breathe for the first time. Shrugging the fascination with expressing herself off, she smiled back, and walked back to her room. Happiness flooded through her as she climbed into bed, exhausted, and fell asleep.

Beastboy sat at the counter, and couldn't believe what had just happened. Raven had liked him since Nevermore, and he could say the same, and it struck him.

He had a date with Raven.


	6. Testing The Water

**I'm so sorry for the late update! Xx I'll have the chapter following this one up by, at the latest, tomorrow night. That chapter will be fun to write. This one was a bit challenging, (I was up till two writing it. Late upload since there hasn't been internet access until now), since I'm so anxious to write the date chapter. That chapter may or may not be next, depending on how long the chapter gets. Thank you all so much for reviewing, it's really helping me out a lot! Hope you're having a good Easter :)**

The night passed faster than it had in a month. Neither Raven nor Beastboy had the nightmare, and they woke up feeling better than either of them ever had before. Raven, already sipping her tea when Starfire entered the main room, was remarking the past few days, and smiling to herself every few minutes.

"Hello, friend Raven! Is it not a marvelous Friday morning? The sun is shining, and all is well!" Starfire said cheerily, more to herself than Raven. She had picked up by now Raven wasn't much for happy-cheery-fun-time. When Raven replied with a smile, Starfire knew something was up.

"It really is a beautiful day," Raven said, grinning into her cup of tea. She continued picturing the night before, and what lay ahead tomorrow night. She wasn't sure why she was so happy that Beastboy had asked her out. Maybe she knew that, after all the hardships they had been through, this really would last. What made her happier was the fact that no matter how happy she was, nothing ever blew up from it. Happiness was one of the emotions she found to not have any explosive repercussions.

"Friend Raven, you are in a good mood, yes?" Starfire asked.

Raven nodded.

"Might I inquire as to why?" Starfire looked excited, and Raven needed an escape plan. When Cyborg walked into the room, she almost thanked him out loud.

"Morning y'all! Who wants pancakes and sausage?" he asked loudly.

Robin walked in, and acknowledged Cyborg's question. "Count me in!" he said excitedly.

Raven pieced together why Starfire and Robin were in such great moods, and shuddered. That wasn't the mental picture she needed. She sipped her tea, and prayed that her subconscious would block that out too.

When Beastboy strolled in earlier than usual, he got the usual mocking that came with waking up at an irregular hour each day.

"Woah, BB, what're you doing up? You sick? Getting up for someone special?" Cyborg taunted, winking. Beastboy glanced for a millisecond at Raven.

"Nope, just couldn't sleep," he said smiling.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Raven asked, though she was certain of the answer. Already, they had established things only understandable and significant to them.

"Nope," he said, smiling. She returned it quickly and picked up her book.

Within a few hours, Robin and Starfire were lazing on the couch, watching TV, Cyborg was rebuilding the T-Car, Beastboy and Raven were in her room, chatting. They had decided they wouldn't tell the rest of the Titans about their shared dream. Since they had beaten Slade, it had become irrelevant.

"So how long is this gonna stay a secret?" he asked. Raven sat on the end of her bed, and Beastboy on the floor in front of her.

"Until they need to know," she responded.

"And when will that be?"

"When they catch us," she laughed. It was a cute, quiet giggle. It felt nice to actually feel and display her emotions.

"Do you have normal clothes?" Beastboy asked suddenly. "I don't plan on wearing my costume on our first date." Beastboy's expression gradually changed to that of disbelief as he said that. It felt so strange saying that to Raven, of all people.

"It feels weird doesn't it?" Raven said, looking at him now.

"Hmm? Oh," he laughed a bit. "Yeah, it really does. But it's really cool too. I don't think anyone in the _world_ expected this to- Dude! That feels weird too!" he exclaimed. "We really are world famous superheroes! Sweet!" he smiled brightly.

She knit her eyebrows. "Did you just now realize that?" she asked him.

He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Kinda."

She gave him a condescending look, more joking than not, and rolled her eyes. "You were making a point?" she reminded him.

"Oh yeah. Well, the whole world, or least all of Jump City, knows that you and I are...well, pretty different." Raven cocked an eyebrow. "Ok, really different. I mean, who in the world could have expected this?" Beastboy asked rhetorically.

"Nobody, which is why this secret won't last long with sightings of us together. In fact, we should probably tell the rest of the Titans when we get home tomorrow night. Truthfully, I can't wait to see their reactions," Raven decided.

Beastboy nodded in agreement, and remembered his question from before. "Anyways, do you have normal clothes? Cause if not, I'm sure Star is just dying to go on an all day shopping spree. It's still early," he smiled. It was almost a threat, but he knew he would never go through with it. Raven may have agreed to go on a date with him, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't blast him out a window for setting her up and an eight hour shopping extravaganza with Starfire.

"I'm sure she would, but I've already got some normal clothes. She dragged me on a shopping spree last week," Raven explained, victorious.

"Aww! That would have been hilarious!" Beastboy complained.

"And a sudden stop to this could-be relationship," Raven teased.

Beastboy pouted, and Raven smiled.

"Well, I have to get some," Beastboy said. He had never really felt the need, since getting recognized and praised was one of the fine perks of being a hero. Even better, the paparazzi knew to stay away, considering the sort of things the Titans were capable of. It wasn't worth the risk of an angry Raven, Starfire, or a green tyrannosaurus in their face.

"I'll let Starfire know," Raven said, taunting him.

"Rae, you wouldn't," Beastboy said, panicked.

She didn't correct his "Rae", which felt... odd. "No, I wouldn't. But you should have seen your face," she said, a tiny smile on her lips.

"Whew. Not cool, Rae, not cool at all."

It was quiet for a little while.

Beastboy groaned. "Dude, I'm so bored!" he half-yelled, laying down.

"You'll live. When are you going to the mall?" she asked.

"Tomorrow?" he asked more than told her, checking to see if she cared if he put it off.

"Alright," she said.

"Wait! I have an idea!" he sat up quickly.

She laughed once quietly, since his hair was a mess and he looked so..goofy with his single-tooth grin. "Yes?"

"How about we go to the mall today? I need new clothes, and we could, I can't believe I'm saying this, look for new books. Then we could maybe rent a movie," he explained.

She mowed it over in her head. It wasn't so much a date as hanging out with a more-than-a-friend. "That sounds nice," she said.

He smiled. "When do you want to go?"

"Now is fine. We can fly there," she said.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

And so Beastboy and Raven went to the mall, and ventured through store after store, looking for new books. Beastboy snuck away at one point to pick out his clothes for their date. He was back in about ten minutes, and found Raven waiting in the book store. She had worn some of her normal clothes, faded black jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. Beastboy, who kept his new clothes in the bag, waved. "Uh, hey Rae. Sorry that took so long. Lines." He rubbed the back of his neck.

She held up a back filled with books. "It's ok. I got you some books, and I demand you read them," Raven said.

Beastboy groaned. "No fair!" he protested.

She shrugged, and they ventured out of the store. With that, the book bag turned black, and vanished. She had sent it to her room.

Making their way to the Hollywood Video in the mall, they chatted more about random events, people, places, etc., and Raven sent Beastboy's bad to his room, and he thanked her.

When they got there, they faced eachother.

"I vote horror," Beastboy said.

"As long as you don't use it as an excuse to cuddle in 'fright', that's fine," she said.

He pouted. "Ok," he said sadly. Then he smiled.

Raven just smiled. It was funny, but she liked to make him try his best to make her laugh. "Any movies in particular?" she asked. He shook his head. They looked for a while.

Beastboy reached for Raven's hand, and grasped it, his fingers in between hers. He looked over for approval, and she sent him a look that said it was just barely ok, which made him happy. She didn't want to get too involved too fast, lest the relationship end, but she couldn't help it all the time.

"So how exactly are we going to watch a movie in the main room of Titan's Tower, on a Friday night, with three other Titan's home, on that level?" she asked.

"Dude, it's the weekend. Robin and Star will be out until late," he emphasized 'late', "and Cy is rebuilding the T-Car. Don't you remember how long that takes him? He'll be done, maybe, by Monday. `Sides, if anyone comes in, you can just vanish through the floor or something," he said. He sounded like he had planned this all out.

"Hopefully I won't have t-"

"Raven? Beastboy? Is that you?" a voice came from behind them, sounding astonished. Immediately, they recognized it's source. Slowly, they turned to find they were exactly right.

Robin was holding a movie, presumably looking at it before he spotted the two, and Starfire was right behind him. They were dressed normally as well, though Robin had sunglasses on. His eyes were like saucers, as were Starfires, and he simply stared, more confused than he had ever been before. He was staring at their intertwined hands.

They both blushed, and remained silent. Raven did her best to hide behind a curtain of hair, and Beastboy was rubbing the back of his neck, smiling nervously. They stopped holding hands, and it was quiet. Robin's face switched to one of understanding, Starfire was already ready to attack them with congratulations and hugs.

Robin laughed. "Ok, wheres Cyborg with the camera?" he asked. This deterred Starfire.

They shifted uncomfortably. "No Cy, no camera," Beastboy said.

Robin's expression was hard to read. He looked confused, but also very happy for them. Starfire jumped for joy.

"Oh, marvelous! Our friends have found joy in the 'going out' aswell," she said, hugging Raven and Beastboy simultaneously. They blushed harder.

"That's great guys," Robin said. "I'm happy you're even managing to get along so well, let alone... well, you know." Raven was thankful he didn't use the term 'going out', considering they hadn't even had their first date yet. Beastboy couldn't wait until Robin _could _say it. "Can't say I'm not surprised."

Raven's embarrassment caused a microwaveable popcorn bag to blow up, sending it everywhere. "Oops," Raven said quietly. Beastboy and Starfire laughed, Robin smiled.

"So what are you guys doing here? Looking for a movie to watch?" Robin asked.

"No Robin, we're buying a puppy," Raven said, for obvious reasons, sarcastically.

Beastboy was the only one chuckling. Robin grumbled a bit, and Starfire didn't get it. Suddenly, Beastboy leaped excitedly over to the next row of movies, clearing a four feet tall wall of them as well. He grabbed a movie and spun around excitedly, holding it like a trophy.

Raven sighed, reminded of events some three or four years ago.

Robin looked excited, as did Starfire.

Beastboy was holding Wicked Scary 2.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

That night, the four of them were in the main room of the tower, enjoying the horrific, even scarier sequel to the scariest movie they had ever seen. Beastboy and Raven were on the couch, closer than usual. Raven eventually rested her head on Beastboy's shoulder, to his appreciation, and he wrapped his arm around her. She was sketchy with it at first, but she decided there wasn't really a point in worrying so much, and allowed it.

Robin and Starfire were snuggling closely on the floor, blankets and pillows surrounding them.

When the movie ended, Robin and Starfire immediately got up, thanked Beastboy for finding the movie, and left.

Beastboy and Raven shuddered. She stood up, and yawned. Beastboy shot up next to her, smiling.

"What?" she asked at the end of her yawn. It wasn't harsh as it normally would have been, just desiring an explanation.

"You got scared," he said, smiling proudly. "I felt you jump a few times."

Raven glared at him.

"Hehe, sorry," he said nervously.

They walked together back to her room, where Beastboy stood at the door.

"Goodnight, Beastboy," she said.

"Night, Rae," he said, and dared to hug her. She hugged him back, and entered her room.

Beastboy made his way, albeit slowly, to his room. Laying down, the thought nothing of tomorrow's possibilities. After almost an hour of staring and thinking, he finally fell into a dream-filled slumber.


	7. Taking The Dive

**Ok, it's 4 AM, and I just finished this. Please excuse spelling mistakes Xx**

**There may be OOC, and if there is, I'm sooo sorry. I blame love, lol. This chapter was one of the more entertaining ones to write, and it's sort of rushed, which sucks. I may end up re-writing it, idk yet, it's 4 and my judgement is WAY the heck off. I promise I'll have plenty of fluff&stuff the next date, and maybe even next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Review!**

The following day, anxiety ran high with the new romance that was brewing. Beastboy spent the majority of the morning practicing in front of a mirror, and giving himself pep-talks. Robin stopped by to say good luck, and Cyborg was left to wonder what Beastboy was so worried about. He tried on his new clothes time after time, trying to find the perfect outfit for the date. He continued to think of possible outcomes, how bad or good it could end up being, how far it may go, how Raven felt. When he finally stopped and took a breath, it was already three o'clock, and he was hungry. He ventured, in his costume, to the kitchen. Practically inhaling some teriyaki tofu and noodles, he couldn't seem to sit still. He decided, since he was rather behind anyway, he would work out until his extra energy was spent, and he could relax. When he arrived at the exercise room, Robin was thrashing the punching bag around. He faced the changeling.

"Hey, Beastboy," Robin said.

"Hey," Beastboy nodded. After a bit of exercising, he asked Robin for some dating advice while they practiced martial arts. For the next few hours, Beastboy and Robin had their first ever man-to-man talk. They talked about relationships, dating, even some of their battles. They laughed about how simple it had become to take down some of the baddies they faced, cringed at how close they had come to defeat, and what the future held. Robin said he'd like to keep the team together until it was time to hang up the cape and call it quits. They'd be known as just the Titans then. To Beastboy, that sounded like heaven.

While Beastboy spent his day being a nervous wreck, Raven spent hers meditating, pangs of panic only hitting for a few moments before dissipating into a sea of excitement and joy. She had found someone who accepted her for all that she was, and cared about her more than anyone else cared to show. She dressed herself in a dark blue, Evanescence baby tee. She wasn't much for music, but when she was in the shower, she liked to have something to listen to, and she found she really liked Evanescence. She listened to them in her room, or on long T-Car or T-Ship trips, when she found the silence to be annoying, which wasn't often. She wasn't even in her room much anymore, she would go out and eat, Starfire accompanying her every now and then, and hang out in the main room of the tower. She pulled on some black jeans, and slipped on a pair of black, blue, and white DC's. They were the only comfortable shoes Starfire would allow her to get. She had sort of grown to like them, too, fortunately. She felt a bit uncomfortable in the clothes, but after about twenty minutes in them, she had grown rather fond of them. They weren't her traditional style, but she liked them anyways. She even began to consider altering her costume, maybe covering her legs at least a bit more. She would think about it when it was important.

When the clock reached six, they both grew very nervous. Beastboy changed into his normal clothes, and Raven sipped some tea in the kitchen.

Beastboy wore a Rise Against muscle tee, purple, with a heart inside of a circle with wings stretching up to the shoulders, faded black jeans, and black, white, and red DC's. Raven meditated, speaking with her emotions. Beastboy listened to his iPod, imagining his life with Raven. He couldn't help himself.

The clock hit seven, and both Titans took a deep breath. Beastboy stood, put his iPod in his pocket, and walked to Raven's room.

A gentle knock was all Raven had to hear to snap out of her meditation. She checked the mirror one last time, and decided she looked good. When she opened the door, Beastboy agreed one hundred and fifty percent. He looked her up and down, causing Raven to blush. Raven couldn't say she wasn't surprised by how nice he looked. Every detail of his new body was visible, and Raven, for the first time in her life, felt the tiniest bit of physical desire. Beastboy could say the very same.

"Wow, Rae. You look amazing... not that you don't always look amazing, I mean, of course you do, you're beautiful and-"

Raven had placed a finger over his lips. She had decided she wouldn't kiss him until the date was going well. "Thank you. You look really nice too, Gar," she said, the smallest hint of a smile on her lips. She also decided she would use Gar instead of Garfield, since it was clear he hated it.

"Hey, that actually sounds pretty cool. Gar. I like that," he said, smiling at Raven.

"I'm glad. Should we go? I can transport to the alleyway next to the place, if that's ok with you," she said.

"It's worth the dizziness," he said, and as she transported them through the shadows, he grasped her hand. They smiled, and disappeared. Not two seconds later, they were standing in an alleyway next to 'Steve and Kat's Diner'. Whenever they traveled like that, Beastboy got very dizzy. He held onto Raven's hand as his walked around like an insane asylum escapee. She giggled, and he finally saw straight. They walked slowly, hand in hand, out of the alleyway and into the diner. A waitress, the only waitress, named Kat, greeted them. Her voice had the smallest rasp to it. She was in her forties, with short-ish blonde hair. She was smiling brightly at the young couple.

"Hello, welcome to our diner. I'm Kat, I'll be your server tonight," she said as she seated them in the back, in a tall booth. She knew that they would want their privacy, as she could tell they were a new couple. She was one of the many people who just picked up the little hints over the years, and could tell certain things about people. Beastboy noted to give her a tip. "Can I start you out with anything to drink?" she asked, pulling out a pad and pen, looking at Beastboy.

He thought for a second. "Could I have a Mountain Dew? No ice."

"Yes you can," she said with a smile. She faced Raven. "How about you sweetie?"

"Do you have any herbal tea?" Raven asked politely.

"As a matter of fact, we do. Is catnip ok?" she asked.

"That's fine," Raven said, smiling that she had found a place with tea. Beastboy held in a laugh at the tea's name.

Kat laughed. "I picked it for the name. Plus, it keeps Stevie calm," she said.

Beastboy laughed a bit more, and thanked the waitress.

He picked up the menu, and after a bit of searching, he found the vegetarian section.

"Yes!" he said in a loud whisper, and laughed victoriously. "Dude, they have a vegetarian menu."

Kat walked back with their drinks. She had been in the business for fifteen years, and never missed a beat when it came to service. "My daughter is a vegetarian, so I figured it'd be important to have on the menu. A lot of the choices are vegan too, just to be extra sure," Kat said, placing their drinks on coasters.

"That's so cool," Beastboy said.

"So it's just you and Steve working here? You keep it running better than most chain restaurants I've been to," Raven said.

"Yep. He does just about all the cooking. I bake the deserts though, he can't seem to get those right," she said. "I'll give you two a minute to look at your menus." She departed to serve the other customers.

"I'm loving it here," Beastboy said, looking at the menu.

Raven nodded, sipping her tea. She found it to be delicious. "It really is amazing."

After deciding on the tofu burger, he set his menu down and looked at Raven, who was still deciding.

She set down her menu, deciding to order the fettucini alfredo, she looked at Beastboy.

"When?" she asked.

He looked confused. "When what?"

"When did you realize you 'liked' me?" she asked, grinning, putting air quotes around 'liked'.

"Hehe, um...," he began. "Since we were battling Trigon in your mind."

She blushed slightly. "Look how long it took for us to realize."

"Yeah. Too long," he replied, looking at her.

It was quiet as they gazed into eachother's eyes.

"You really do look amazing Raven," Beastboy said after a bit. "You always have." He felt strange being so charming, but at least he wasn't horrible at it.

Raven's cheeks flushed, and she looked down, smiling from embarrassment and joy at the same time. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem."

"You look really handsome...," she said. "You've really grown since I met you. You used to be a short, stick-figure boy. Now..." She didn't finish, but her eyes gave her away.

"You just can't get enough of me," he said, winking. She giggled a little bit.

"Trust me, that's a bonus. But a good one at that," she said. He blushed, and laughed.

"Same."

About a minute later, Kat appeared at the table.

"So, have you guys decided?" she asked kindly.

Raven looked to Beastboy for confirmation, and he nodded.

"I'll have the tofu burger with fries, please," Beastboy said, handing her his menu as she wrote quickly. She looked at Raven.

"And I'll have a bowl of the vegetable soup," Raven said, also handing over her menu.

"Alrighty, thanks guys, it'll be out in about fifteen minutes," Kat said, and walked off.

Beastboy decided that Raven was too far away from him, seeing as she was across a circular booth built for about 6, and scooted to the middle, where she was.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she responded. Though they said literally nothing, they spoke with their eyes and expressions. After a bit of this, Beastboy took Raven's hand, gaining a smile from her. His eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips, as did hers.

Slowly, they leaned in towards eachother, their eyes slowly drifting closed with every inch, and kissed softly. Their first official kiss, where both of them actually expected it. The kiss grew slightly more intense, and Raven leaned into Beastboy more, who enjoyed that. They broke apart for a second, and they were both blushing madly, smiling. They were no more than an inch apart. Leaning back in, the kiss regained it's full strength. As it grew more intense, Raven was having trouble controlling herself. When their tongues finally brushed against eachother, a crash was heard from behind Raven. They broke apart, and knew what happened.

A young man's drink exploded, sending his water in his face, and a few drops onto his t-shirt. Raven felt a pang of guilt. He looked around, and saw Raven.

She began. "I'm sorry. That was an accident, I-"

"What the hell? What kind of freaky, witch-craft shit was that? What did I do to you?" the man said. He couldn't have been more than twenty-two years old.

"Nothing, which is why I said it was an-"

"Guys, check this freak out. She thinks its funny pranking people by blowing up their water," he said.

"Dude, she said it was an accident, and that she was sorry," Beastboy stepped in.

"It's freak number two! Check it out, he looks like broccoli!" the man exclaimed, and his friends laughed.

"Just leave us alone, ok?" Beastboy said.

"Aww, he's protecting his bitchy little girlfriend!" the man said, very very foolishly.

Raven fumed. She would have torn the men apart, had Beastboy not interfered. He did his best to contain The Beast, and it worked for the most part. Using his martial arts, he spun around and kicked the man in the jaw. He crumpled to the ground, no serious damage. A cut cheek and a swollen and painful jaw. He shouted in pain, and scrambled up. Backing away, he hid behind his buddies.

"Kick his ass," the man said.

His friends charged Beastboy, who blocked a few blows, and retaliated. He dropped two of them, and Raven, now as calm as she could be in that sort of situation, encased the others in a black aura, and blasted all five of them outside of the diner. Luckily, they were the last customers there, and nothing was seriously damaged. The five punks ran away, one bleeding, and the rest horrified by the thrashing they received from a simple thought.

Kat let them calm down.

Beastboy sat back down next to Raven.

"Raven, it's ok. Those guys don't know what they're talking about," Beastboy tried to cheer her up.

"I need to learn to control myself, otherwise we'll never be able to kiss like that," she said.

He stroked her cheek gently. "Then we'll have to practice, won't we?" he asked rhetorically.

She smiled at that. "I've just been so excited about today. I never expected anything like this for me, ever. Yet here I am, with you, on my first date. I need to control my reactions. I'm sure there's some way to do it, and I'll find it."

"I'll help you as much as I can," he smiled, and pulled her closer. She shut her eyes, and rest her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a bit.

Kat set the bill on the table, no charge for the broken glass, and remained silent. Beastboy mouthed 'thank you' for that. With his free arm, he gave them a ten dollar tip, partially for the broken glass, and remained sitting. When Raven sat up, Kat walked over.

"Thanks for stopping by guys," she said.

"Our pleasure, it's really great here," Raven said.

"Yeah, we'll be back for sure," Beastboy said, smiling. "Sorry about the fight."

"Oh, don't be. They always stick around her, harassing me and making messes. I doubt they'll ever be back, thanks to you two. Come back soon, 'kay?"

They nodded, and left the little diner.

Raven transported them back to her room, and they sat on her bed, talking about anything that came to mind.

As the night grew old, they felt fatigue and drowsiness strike them.

"Time for bed?" Beastboy asked, yawning.

Raven nodded, and he kissed her gently. "Night, Rae."

"Night, Gar" she said. He stood, and left to his room. Raven began to miss him as soon as he left.

As they both fell asleep, they thought of each other, and their luck.

Both of them missed each other to the point of running down the hall and climbing into bed with them.

Love had made the two Teens change in ways they had never expected. They missed and craved to be with each other, and couldn't stand to be away. The young, burning passion strong in them would eventually dim, and become a glow of love and romance. The second date was to come, and neither could wait. For now, however,, the long overdue couple of Titan's Tower could only lay awake, thinking about a bright and promising future.


	8. Confirmations

**So this chapter, more than anything, was just to inform Cyborg, and confirm where their relationship is headed. It feels a lot like a filler, and I'm sorry about that. It is really significant in small ways though, thankfully. Next chapter will be fun to write, assuming I stick with my ideas. Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Sorry it's so late!!!! D:**

The Titans, save for Beastboy, all sat at the breakfast table. Raven sipped herbal tea, as the others chatted. Earlier that morning, Beastboy had come into the main room for some water. Raven had been in there, as she normally was at that time, sipping her tea. He hugged her, and drank a bottle of water. For a bit, they talked about their relationship, as Beastboy was curious.

"So what are we now?" he had asked.

"What?" she said, confused.

"What's our relationship status?"

"I don't really know yet, I haven't had a chance to let it all sink in yet. I'll let you know later today, after I have more time to think about how well this could truly end up working," she said, smiling softly. This had worried Beastboy a little. Now she was with Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, mowing it over in her head.

After about fifteen minutes of arguing, Cyborg was forced to get the newspapers, and any other mail the Titans received. Upon reentering the main room, he tossed Robin the copy of Game Informer that the male Titans shared. Opening the local newspaper, consisting only of Jump City relevant information, he gasped.

"Yo! When did this happen?!" he shouted, bug eyed. He held up the newspaper to show the other Titans. The headline read: '**NEW COUPLE AMONG CITY'S HEROES?**'. Beneath it was a photo of Beastboy and Raven kissing at their booth in Steve & Kat's Diner. The paparazzi couldn't resist that time, not when the only picture of the new couple kissing was worth as much as the Robin/Starfire article. But this was worth more, considering the Titans were, basically, polar opposites. This reporter had guts.

Raven blushed severely, and hid underneath her hood. The toaster blew up, but the other Titans paid no attention.

Robin grabbed the paper, and the three of them read the article.

**Teen Titan's Spawn New Couple: Raven & Beastboy**

** By Geoff Burns**

_It appears that they are dating, and according to resources, it's very serious._

_ Last night, the two very different teens were seen at a local diner together, talking, eating, and – as you have seen – kissing. While most of the city found this as a joyful surprise, many people seemed either fully expectant, or hateful of the couple. One citizen said that the couple was 'always an idea in many peoples minds'. He also said to 'look online, there are hundreds upon hundreds of romanticizing folks creating stories about the heroes.'_

_ Many people I spoke to about this were sorely disappointed that one of the two heroes was now "off the market". The vast majority of the city agrees, however, that the couple will last. Whether this hope is merely wishful thinking, or obvious certainty, has yet to be decided._

_ According to an unnamed source, things got rough at the diner between the couple and a group of 'bullies', as one of the owners of the small diner called them. When asked about the supposed encounter, they did not confirm it. The owner merely stated that it was long forgotten, and the media can forget they heard anything of it, because what happened is unchangeable and the public need not know how the night went for the young couple._

_ Story continues on page 8._

Cyborg looked unbelievably confused, Robin looked slightly angry, and annoyed with the media, as did Starfire. They all looked at Raven, who blushed harder and vanished to Beastboy's room. The green teen was sleeping quietly.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, and shook him gently.

"Beastboy," she said. "Beastboy, wake up."

He didn't budge.

Hesitating, she planted a deep kiss on his lips, pressing into him. His eyes opened wide, and he kissed back. As soon as he did, however, Raven pulled away.

"Now THAT is how everyone should wake up, every day," he said groggily. Raven blushed.

Hearing a knock on the door, he got up, much like a zombie, and opened the door. Raven stood next to him as he looked up at the tall robo-man in his doorway.

"Hey dude, what's up?" he said, still half-asleep. Cyborg held up the picture of them kissing at the diner.

"You tell me," Cyborg said, grinning mischievously.

Beastboy let out his traditional panicked, rather high pitched, and shocked yelp. Raven found it, very strangely, cute. Beastboy snatched the newspaper, and read the article.

"Dude! They were totally spying on us!" he yelled, aggitated.

_ "_So you two are actually in a full-on relationship? Like, dating and all?" Cyborg asked.

Raven nodded. Beastboy noticed this, and nodded too.

"This isn't photoshopped?"

Beastboy shook his head, and Raven rolled her eyes.

And by the looks of it you are in for some heavy fan-support, 'cause according to that, a lot of people support this," Cyborg said.

Beastboy rubbed the back of his neck, and Raven shifted uncomfortably. They both were blushing.

"Hehe, who would've guessed?" he said nervously.

"So when were you plannin' on tellin' me?" Cyborg asked.

"What?" Beastboy replied.

"When were you plannin' on tellin' me that you two were together?" he clarified.

"Oh...uh..well, uh..." Beastboy stammered.

"This morning, actually. Unfortunately, you found out before he woke up," Raven said. Beastboy shot her a greatful look, and turned back to Cyborg.

"How long you guys been together?" the robotic teen asked them.

"Actually, um, last night was kind of our first date," Beastboy said.

"So you two aren't exactly," he searched for the right word, "official yet?"

They shook their heads.

"Well, good luck. Can't believe you two are involved. I mean, I sort of saw a spark when we were in Raven's head, but that's the last I saw of it. Anyways, I'm gonna go kick Robin's butt in the training area. He said you two have to train later too, but he'll give you some time to yourselves, since last night was so important to you guys and you probably wanna talk," Cyborg finished, before walking to the elevator to the ground floor.

Beastboy looked over the paper. "Support? Dude, how could anyone have even seen this coming, seriously?"

Raven shrugged. Beastboy closed his door, and walked over to his computer.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching him search their names. Millions of results came up, but only a few intrigued him. He pulled a chair over, and she sat down next to him.

"Lookin' to see what people write about us," he grinned. She prepared for awkwardness.

After a few different sites, he found a short, single chapter story about them.

"It's so weird that people write this kind of stuff, dude," he said, reading.

After a few minutes of reading a story of them revealing their feelings and making out, things got, as Raven predicted, very awkward. He had stumbled upon a very sexual story, and they read it very quietly. Raven felt herself imagining every single action, and couldn't help but be very excited by the idea. Once she finished reading, she calmed herself, and her sexual desire for Beastboy once again dissipated. Beastboy found himself very intrigued by the story, and also imagined the events. He, after much effort, pushed the nagging feelings to embrace Raven and reenact the story out of his head. He laughed quietly. "Dude, this is so...."

"Creepy?" Raven finished for him.

He nodded. "It's kinda funny how much people wished we would get together. Looks like they might get their wish," he said. "Not the sex part! The um, being together... and... yeah," he panicked.

"Do you wish it included the sexual part?" Raven asked, deadpan. Her expression was unreadable.

His eyes opened wide. He pulled on the collar of his costume, then rubbed his neck. "Not if you don't. I mean, it's too early isn't it? Yeah, of course it is, I mean, we're still young, and we have time. Unless you want that! Then we totally could! I mean, not that I'm eager! It's just-"

She placed a finger over his lips. "Calm down, Beastboy. It was a joke," she said, grinning.

He sighed with relief, and dramatically laid back into the chair. "Jeez, Rae, don't scare me like that. That sort of question is just... unanswerable!" he exclaimed. She laughed quietly, and they searched for a few more stories. Laughs, awkwardness, sadness, and hope filled the room.

After a while, Beastboy grasped Raven's hand. Growing tired of story-reading, he closed his browser, and stood up, stretching. Raven stood next to him, and looked at him expectantly.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, nervous.

"What would you like to do today?" she asked.

"Lay down. I barely slept at all last night." He cautiously brushed her cheek with his hand. She closed her eyes and smiled at his touch. "Too busy missing you." He was becoming a real charmer.

She blushed, and looked down.

He gently pushed on the bottom of her chin, making her look up at him. Her expression had returned to blank, but her eyes showed caring.

Smiling, they had the same idea in mind. They kissed passionately, with the same force the night before. His tongue brushed against hers, and she was able to control it for a big longer this time. Before long, however, maybe ten seconds tops, she heard a light bulb blow up. They pulled apart, and he looked around his room. Closed blinds, plus overcast skies, and no artificial light in the room created a very nice darkness.

"What about you? What do you feel like doing?" he asked her, hugging her closely. She nuzzled into his chest.

"I'm tired too," she said quietly, eyes closed.

"Do you want to go to sleep?" he asked.

She nodded.

He laughed quietly. "I guess I'll carry you to your room then.

"No," she said. It wasn't a plead to stay, it was a demand.

"Then what do you want to do?"

"You said you were tired, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well," she shifted quietly, and pulled away, looking into his eyes. "It couldn't hurt if we just slept, could it? I don't want to be away from you if I don't have to." She laughed quietly once. "This emotion is taking control."

"I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in it... are you sure you're ok with it?" he asked her.

She nodded, obviously very tired. They walked over to his now queen-sized bed, and laid down. Raven lay on her side, and Beastboy faced her. They held hands under the covers, and both of them closed their eyes.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

__After about three hours of sleep, Raven awoke to Beastboy reading the article over and over again.

His eyes continued going over the word dating. He thought about his question of this morning, about their 'relationship status', and about how Raven had confirmed to Cyborg that they were involved. She sounded sure of their 'status', so he turned to her. She had stood up, and walked over to him.

"Does this mean we're officially dating? You know, boyfriend-girlfriend stuff?" he asked her, smiling ear to ear.

She sighed, smiling, and hugged him tightly. He took that as a yes, hugging her back.

**One more thing! I have decided what I'm going to do with the following story, so I'll delete the author's note chapter. If you still want to vote, maybe give me a few ideas on how to add to mine, just send me a message. If you're new to the story and missed the author's note, just ask me via PM what it was and I'll explain. KK, bye now!**


	9. Continuity

The remainder of the day, one to six, was spent in a meeting, and training. The Titans held the meeting because battle strategies needed to be reconfigured, since Raven and Beastboy would be willing to work together. Minor changes for the most part, but even so, many new moves and plans were added and practiced for the whole day. By 6:30, five teenagers hobbled their way back into the tower, utilizing the little strength they had left. Robin and Starfire sat on the couch, enjoying the view of the city. Cyborg played some racing game, Robin joining him after a while, as Starfire left to sleep. She grabbed a slice of pizza from the fridge, her dinner, and left. Raven and Beastboy sat at the dining room table, they too enjoying the wonderful view of the amazing city. Judging from past experience, the peace wouldn't last very long. The Titans took this into account, and were always grateful for a few days off, no matter what.

Raven looked at her changeling boyfriend, and he looked back at her. Softly, the shared a single kiss, and resumed watching the skyline and setting sun. When an explosion from the game Robin and Cyborg were playing ruined the moment, Beastboy took Raven's hand, and they ventured up to the roof of the tower.

Soon everything would change again, but for now, the young couple embraced each other atop the roof. As they began to kiss, Raven grew nervous. She calmed herself. This time, she would control it. She placed her hands on his newly-sculpted chest, and his hands rested on her hips. He was pulling her close like that.

After a few moments, very cautiously, she brushed his teeth with her tongue, and he allowed entrance. Cautiously at first, Raven explored his mouth, and teased his tongue with her own. Finally locking her emotions and gaining complete control, it grew into their first make-out, which they both thoroughly enjoyed.

_Two months later..._

Raven and Beastboy's relationship had flourished. They had been on many dates, seen a few movies, and even 'practiced' their kissing skills. The entire time, the team adjusted. At first, combat seemed strange, as they stayed close to, rather than avoid, each other. However, soon enough, they had adjusted, and even became more efficient in combat, since the melee style of Beastboy let Raven stay comfortably ranged. With the months gone by, Beastboy had gotten as far as touching her chest as they kissed. They both liked the idea of intimacy rather than just sex, but that didn't mean he wouldn't go for that once in a while. The first time he touched her there, she accidentally blew up his computer. Having felt bad, she gave him hers. He never used it anyway, and it was much more efficient than his. The second time, they were outside the tower, on 'his' rock. That time, a giant pillar of water towered over them, and came crashing down, pushing them into the water. She was mad for a while, and refused to kiss Beastboy the rest of the day, but .

Now, they sat on the roof, meditating together, he was on ground next to her, as she levitated. Beastboy examined and enjoyed his life, as it was now, in his mind, perfect, as did Raven, along with controlling her power-altering emotions. So far, she had discovered that sadness affected the atmosphere of the rooms for others, happiness brightened it- in fact, the only emotions shown to do anything serious were anger, severe excitement, and fear, though only when she kept in, which she learned not to. So she practiced controlling her powers when excited, be it by a kiss, an embrace, or something more, she worked at it, imagining it over and over, and even with Beastboy. Anger, she had always worked on, and still did.

Eventually, Beastboy grabbed Raven around the waist, and pulled her down into his lap. She stared at him, a little shocked. Her expression then went blank, daring Beastboy to change that. They kissed expertly, the passion growing steadily.

Like any heroes, whatever interrupted them _had _to be cliché.

Robin opened the door to the roof, and shouted to them, scaring the living hell out of Beastboy, and embarrassing Raven to the point of the door to the roof crumpling and falling off it's hinges. Apparently, Red-X was robbing some store, and they had to stop him.

Within minutes, the Titans found themselves face to face with the mysterious teenage villain, ready for a fight.

It had been their first encounter with Red-X since the race with Ding Dong Daddy, and he had become a better fighter. Then again, the team was also better.

Red-X was holding a bunch of expensive looking bracelets, each with a sort of gemstone on them. He was holding about 20,000 dollars worth of items in a gray sack slung over his shoulder.

"Those are nice, but the only thing that's going on your wrist, X, is a pair of handcuffs!" Robin said, delivering his oh-so-unnecessary pre-battle one-liner. Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy felt embarrassed for him.

"'Fraid not Robin. I'm not looking for a fight, just some quick cash," the villain said. You could hear the smile in his voice.

"Looks like you don't have a choice in the matter, 'less you wanna put the bag down and give up now. Otherwise we can kick your butt into submission," Cyborg said, a bit cocky now that the T-Car was fully functional, and "better than ever"

"I don't think so," Red-X said, before leaping into the air over the Titans, and sprinting for the door. Starfire tried to get in his way, but he simply jumped up, and kicked her shoulder. This sent him upwards towards a vent, and her to the ground.

When Red-X finally reached the roof, he found himself facing the gothic empath, and the green changeling. Not long after, Robin climbed out of the vent, behind Red-X, Starfire appeared at the edge of the building, having flown up, and Cyborg kicked open the door to the roof. They surrounded Red-X.

"It's over dude, there's no where to go. If you could use that teleporter thing, you would have already," Beastboy said.

All six teens stood in a battle stance, ready. Robin and Cyborg charged.

Leaping above them, causing them to slam into eachother, Red-X aimed one of his many gadgets at a nearby building. Before he could do anything, however, he felt a great force slam into him, and drill him into the ground. Starfire loomed over him, a starbolt aimed at him.

"You are defeated, give up," she demanded. Her voice was less than threatening.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," he said, tripping her as he got up. He turned and ran for the edge of the building, jumping, and yet again aimed his gadget at adjacent building. Yet again, he was stopped. The Titans had never seen him so eager to flee before.

Beastboy had grabbed his leg, and swung him back to the ground. Raven almost pinned him with her powers, but he managed to fling one of the X's that pinned her to the ground. Getting up, he dodged plenty of attacks from Robin, but felt a brute force strike him in the shoulder. Sailing through the air, he capitalized on his chance to flee. Using a newly installed grappling hook, he used it to hook onto and scale the very tall building in a matter of seconds.

"Later," he said on the way up.

This didn't stop the Titans.

However, when they reached the rooftop, they found nothing. Red-X had escaped.

"Aw, man!" Cyborg shouted.

"We have failed," Starfire said quietly.

"Dude! How did he- where did he- ugh!" Beastboy kicked the ground. Raven placed a hand on his shoulder, since she sensed his was very disappointed in himself.

"Don't worry, we'll catch him," Robin said.

When they returned home, the Titans sat in the main room, talking about Red-X's escape, and how to stop him. When the discussion ended, Raven and Beastboy sat on the couch.

After a few minutes of just enjoying eachother's company, Beastboy spoke up.

"How about we go back to Steve and Kat's diner tonight? You know, two month anniversary and everything," he said suddenly.

"You remembered," she said happily, then nodded. "I'd love that."

They hadn't said that they loved eachother yet. They agreed that with a superhero relationship you had to wait a little longer, embracing the fact that they may not live into their golden years.

"Yay!" Beastboy said, hugging Raven. She just hugged him back, embarrassed her boyfriend was such a... geek.

His stomach growled.

"Can we go now? Please?" he asked, turning into a kitten with enormous eyes.

She pet the small green kitten in front of her, and nodded, smiling.

Turning back, he kissed her. "Meet me back here then," he said, and ventured off to change, as did Raven.

They both showered, and changed into normal clothes. It had become routine, and they actually started to like it. On many occasions, they had gone shopping for more new clothes to buy. Raven was also working on changing her costume, since she felt her current one was a bit... unacceptable, taking into account her age. At 14, a leotard and cape is borderline acceptable for a hero. At 17, it was just uncomfortable, as her figure was much more... pronounced. She hadn't any ideas so far, but she still considered changing at some points. She slipped on a black tank top, being sure to not show cleavage, a black sweatshirt with thin, purple, abstract lines on it, and blue jeans.

Beastboy changed into a maroon sweatshirt over a black and red Avenged Sevenfold shirt, with black jeans. He loved dressing normally, he almost, key word almost, preferred it over his costume.

Within about an hour, they were just outside the diner, holding hands as they walked inside. It was the fifth time there as a couple, eighth for Raven herself. While her and Beastboy were an item, she still spent about twenty percent of her time alone, and about fifteen more training, usually with Beastboy. During his alone time, he caught up with the guys,

Kat appeared almost immediately, and hugged her two favorite customers.

"Hey guys! How are you?" she asked, walking them to their usual table.

"Hungry," Beastboy said, making a face of pain while holding his stomach.

Raven just rolled her eyes. "We're good, Kat. How've you been?"

"Fine, fine. Steve's been upset lately, one of his closest friends died a few days ago," Kat said, eying the kitchen as she sat them down. The couple usually saw Steve after their meals, as they would stay late a lot of the time. Kat didn't mind, she enjoyed having the young heroes there, since she never got to see her son, whom she talked about once in a while.

Steve was tan, and a bit red from high blood pressure. His light brown, and graying, hair was practically gone on the top of his head, but he made the look work. He was a bit round, and had a big smile on his face much of the time.

"I'm so sorry," Raven said. Beastboy nodded agreement.

"Yeah... very sad. Steve's torn apart, but I'm sure he'll come through. The funeral is this Friday, my son is in town for it, since he was pretty good friends with a lot of Steve's friends. He didn't have many of his own until just recently. At least I get to see him again," she said, smiling.

Her son's name was Cody. She had described him as on the tall side, maybe an inch taller than Beastboy, with vibrant blue eyes, and dark brown hair down to his eyes. He had the sort of emo-style hair that a lot of kids wished they had, so Kat had said. She used to be a hair stylist, and recalled many boys asking for that hairstyle for a big date or something. They never called it the emo-style hair, but that's what Cody had called it ever since his friend had described it that way. Eventually, Kat picked up on that. He was fit, but he wasn't a bodybuilder, and he had a very good sense of humor, even if she didn't approve of some of it. She said he always knew how to get a few laughs.

"In fact, he's helpin' tonight. He's gonna be your server, since we're so busy. When you got rid of those thugs, this place really picked up," she said, smiling at the couple gratefully. "He'll be right out. Talk to you two later," she said, and left.

Beastboy already knew what he wanted, his traditional tofu burger. Raven decided on the cajun chicken pasta, since she was a fan of spicy food. The snuggled and talked quietly about the past two months, enjoying their night out.

"Hey guys," a young man said, wearing all black, with a Sixx:A.M. logo on the front of his shirt. "My name's Cody, I'll be your server." He had that certain voice that just sounded familiar. Kat had described him right on appearance-wise, and he had a smile matching his dad's.

"Hey Cody," Beastboy said, shaking his hand. Raven waved slightly, and waited for her turn to order. "I'm Beastboy. This is Raven," he continued, "your mom has told us a lot about you."

Cody laughed. "Yeah, that's her. She talks about you two a lot too, seems like you've really become good friends."

"Your parents are the only adults we really talk to," Raven said.

"They're pretty cool. They can be a little overbearing sometimes though. Anyways, what'll the hero couple have?"

They blushed slightly. "I'll have the tofu burger," he said. "Oh, and a coke."

"And I'll have the cajun chicken pasta, with Catnip herbal tea," Raven told him.

Cody smiled, wrote down their orders, and made his way to the kitchen.

They cuddled, talking about their battle with Red-X, and how strange it was that he practically refused to fight.

Cody returned with their food, and let them be again.

As they ate, they held hands and chatted more about upcoming events. Suddenly, a crash was heard from the door. A man stormed in, face red with rage, and glared a young woman and her date. He was tall, about 6'4", and looked like he worked out. A _lot_. It looked like if he were hit by a semi-truck, the whole thing would implode from a sudden stop.

"So you're with this little prick now?" he shouted. He stormed over to them, and yelled about how nobody leaves him, how much of a slut she was, the whole nine yards. Cody stepped out from behind the counter as soon as he heard the yelling. Beastboy and Raven got up, ready to subdue the man. He was sober, but he was acting like a maniac.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Cody said, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"And who the hell do you think you are? Huh?!" The man shoved Cody, sending him to the ground, and went back to his rampage. Pulling out a knife, the angry man told the woman to follow him or he would skin the young couple alive. Beastboy and Raven started over there, but as they did someone else intervened.

"Sir, leave, now," Cody demanded. The man turned, and glared at Cody.

"Looks like I gotta get you too, pretty boy," he growled, jabbing at Cody with the knife.

Beastboy and Raven started to sprint, but halted, watching as Cody not only side-stepped several stabs and slashes from the surprisingly fast man, but disarmed him, and took a step back, proceeding to merely jab the man with his hand in his neck and two fingers to the chest.

Needless to say, everyone thought he was crazy. That is, until the man froze, and fell over, unconscious. What should have taken a tank, took a normal teenage boy. Beastboy and Raven eyed him suspiciously as he stepped around the man, and jabbed him in the back, causing the large man to cough, and look around, scared. He looked up at Cody.

"Get out," Cody said quietly. The man shouted and ran for the door.

Kat had had everyone, save for Raven and Beastboy, leave when it came time to close. They had asked to stay, wanting to talk to Cody and Steve, and spend time with the only nice adults they really knew.

"So, what's it like being a Titan?" Cody asked after a while.

Raven looked at Beastboy, who read her expression. He understood he would be the answerer to that, and he looked back at Cody.

"Complicated," he said, laughing. The others smiled. "Training is exhausting, fighting the bad guys can be fun, but sometimes it's just... blah. On the plus side, you get awesome friends, defeat the bad guys, save people, and get a bunch of recognition and appreciation. Plus, living in a giant T just speaks for itself." They laughed.

"It sounds so amazing. Ever since I heard about you guys a few years back, I've wanted to join you. But, alas, I'm," he sniffled, "normal!" He pretended to cry, receiving more laughs.

"Well, so is Robin, and yet he's our leader. You took care of that large man before with seemingly zero effort. Are you sure you're normal?" Raven asked, grinning.

"He's normal all right. Poking is just lethal," Steve said.

"Yeah, dude, what was that?" Beastboy asked, chuckling a little.

"It's called Dim Mak. You pretty much use human pressure points and precise striking to take down just about anyone in one or two quick little jabs. I've been doing it since I was... God, how long has it been now Mom?" Cody turned to Kat, who crossed her arms and looked up, trying to remember.

"I think it was... nine? Eight or nine years old," Kat said after a bit.

"Yeah, that's right. I learned from this 60-something year old man, Dave, who lived next door. He saw me get beat up a lot, since they would normally beat me up at the park across the street from our houses. So one day, after I got my ass handed to me, he stopped me and told me he could get it to stop, but only with a lot of training, every weeknight, and I had to prove I was responsible. From then on, he taught me every single weeknight, for about an hour and a half a night. As soon as I got home, I did my homework. Eventually, after the bullying stopped, I told him I wanted to keep learning the style we had only talked about. That was when I was 11, and I wanted to learn Dim Mak, more for a workout than anything, because he said it was really tough. And it was, but I got used to it. Our lessons grew more frequent, not just the hour and a half on weekdays, but at least two hours on the weekends, and a couple hours every night in the summer, so I learned it pretty quickly. Dave passed a few years ago, though, so I practiced on my own. I'm proud to say I'm just about an expert now," Cody finished with a smile.

"Dude, that's sweet!" Beastboy shouted, very much intrigued by the style.

"And a lot like Robin," Raven said. Only Beastboy laughed, since the others didn't get it.

"So how'd you get your powers and stuff?" Steve asked.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Raven, Beastboy, and, surprisingly, Cody, all returned to the tower that night.

"Dude... This place is amazing," Cody said, completely shocked by the tower. Beastboy and Raven gave him a bit of a tour, and he was still in awe when they reached the rooms.

"Alright dude, here's your room," Beastboy said.

"You sure this is ok? I mean, you just met me and-"

"It's fine, Cody, we're more than willing to have you here," Raven said, tired.

"Yeah, dude, don't worry about it. See you in the morning," the green teen said.

"Thanks Raven, Beastboy. This means a lot. Sleep well, you guys," Cody said before entering the room that had once been Terra's. He unpacked his suitcase, and stored his clothes in the dresser. Laying down, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Beastboy and Raven cuddled in her bed, tired from the long day.

As they fell asleep, Raven looked deep into Beastboy's eyes.

"Goodnight, Gar," she said quietly.

"Goodnight, Rae... I love you," he said quietly, nervous.

Raven stared at him, cautious. "I love you too," she said finally. They embraced even tighter, and slowly fell asleep.

** MWAHAHA! CLIFFER! So I know everyone is wondering what the HELL Cody is doing at the tower, and I promise, next chapter you'll know. The next couple will be generally Titans based, maybe a bit of Cody. After that, Beastboy and Raven will be the focus, since they deal with the plot more than the others. Long chapter to make up for the wait you guys have to go through. I'll be updating a bit less frequently from now own, maybe every three days. We shall see! Remember to review! Always! My motivation is faltering, and I neeeeeed more reviews. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll try to update soon :)**

** PS: I calculated how long of a book this would be if I maintain my average chapter length, and reached my goal of 20 chapters, and I'm super happy to say it'd be about 250 pages! ^^**

** KBYENOW!**


	10. First Encounters

** Ok, so I know Cody needs more introducing and stuff, but I promise you'll learn a lot about him in the chapter after this. For now, just pretend you know him, lol.**

_Earlier that night..._

_ "_Well, I had better go. I need to find a place to stay," Cody said as the clock ticked it's way to midnight.

"I still don't get why you can't stay with us," Steve said, annoyed.

"I refuse to share a tiny apartment above a restaurant with two still very... active parents, and sleep on the floor NEXT to the bed. I need somewhere... not there," Cody said, laughter coming from the tiny group.

"Thanks for the image, dude," Beastboy said, his expression that of disgust.

"Hey! We aren't exactly old and gross! We just aren't young and sexy anymore," Kat said.

"Anyways," Cody said, shuddering, "I'll just get a hotel, it's cool."

"In this city? Pfft, good luck! The cheapest hotel I've seen is 100 a night, and you'll be here until Monday!" Steve said, trying to reason with his son.

Raven and Beastboy chatted very quietly for a bit as Cody and Steve argued, Kat just laughing at the two silly men.

"If you're so against staying here or at a hotel, there's always Titan's Tower," Beastboy said.

"Aw, dude, I couldn't," Cody said.

"C'mon! I get along with you as well, if not more, than the other Titans! And you know, if you prove yourself, you might even be an honorary Titan someday! Maybe after some radioactive waste contaminates you, and you can breathe fire or something, but it could happen!" Beastboy joked.

"I couldn't, really. I mean, you guys rock and all, but I'd feel way too intrusive."

"Cody, stop refusing," Raven laughed, "just come to the tower. It'll only be a few days, and I'm sure the team would really like you. And, his joking aside, Beastboy has a point. If you prove yourself you could even be a Titan, like you want. You're probably even a match for Robin," Raven said.

Cody had made it clear several times how much he really envied the Titans over the course of the night, and they had a point. If he displayed an ability to hold his own and help in battles, they would make him a Titan. But that was a far off chance, considering Terra.

"You really think that'd be ok? I mean, it wouldn't be permanent, since I gotta get home, but I'd love staying with the Titans for a while."

"Yes, it's fine! Dude, just accept the offer so we can leave! I'm sooo tired," Beastboy said, pretending to fall asleep, then jolting and pretending to wake up, shocked.

"Alright, I'll grab my suitcase," Cody said, ecstatic.

When they arrived, Cody had driven his car, the Titans passengers, guiding him. They gave him the mini-tour, said their goodnights, and the entire tower fell into a temporarily peaceful sleep.

_A few hours later, 2:47 AM..._

The tower's blaring alarm system awoke every Titan, and Cody. Beastboy got up, and on his way to the main room, he stopped at Cody's.

Cody opened the door just as Beastboy arrived.

"Hey. Don't worry about the alarm, dude, we'll deactivate it and let you sleep. You don't need to get involved," Beastboy told him.

"Alright. Good luck," Cody said, shutting the door. Within a few moments, the alarm was off and the Titans were on their way to the area of the explosion. They found Red-X inside the store he robbed earlier... returning the stolen property.

"What the...," Beastboy said quietly.

"Hey, kids," Red-X said. Robin lashed out, aiming a roundhouse kick at his head. Red-X caught it, and elbowed Robin in the stomach, shaking the hand he caught the kick in. Even though the kick itself would have hurt tons worse, Robin was very strong, and it had hurt Red-X's hand. Sprinting to the back door, he threw the rest of the stolen items behind the counter.

They refused to let him escape this time. Raven stopped him with a forcefield, and the battle commenced. Minutes passed, and neither side showed any signs of breaking.

"Why did you return what you stole?" Robin asked mid-combat.

"I figured it'd be easier to just get the cash, rather than spend all that time trying to sell all that stuff," the villain explained. The fight continued.

Eventually, Red-X used a small box next to a counter as a stair-like springboard. He flew over Robin, Beastboy, and Raven, Cyborg and Starfire firing their projectiles at him. Raven used her powers to entrap is legs, and he swung forward, his head about to hit the ground. Using his newly added grappling hook, he shot above a small doorway, and swung through it towards his destination. He had installed a remote detaching mechanism, and he pushed it, the hook finding it's place on his wrist.

Another explosion was heard as a vault in the bank next door was blasted off of it's hinges. Red-X ran in, and grabbed several bags filled with money, and turned to see the Titans waiting for him.

"Isn't it past your bed time?" Red-X said.

"Dude! Why do you act like we're way younger than you? You're a teenager too, aren't you?!" Beastboy asked him, annoyed.

Red-X ignored the question, and shot three explosive X's at the team. All but Starfire dodged them. She was too busy making sure Robin was ok. The explosive attached itself to her waist, and a timer of thirty seconds appeared. Throwing several smoke bombs, covering the distance between himself and the Titans, he sprinted through, towards the exit. All of the Titans were blind, and two of which were dealing with a bomb, so nobody could stop him. Finally, with plenty of time to spare, Robin detached and threw the bomb into the alleyway. Though they chased him, he was faster, and had gotten a bit of a head start.

Running across the street, he aimed his grappling hook at the roof of a nearby building.

He had reached the top by the time the Titans were out of the smokescreen.

Beastboy and Raven noted a single, familiar looking car, and a man running into the strip-mall Red-X had climbed to the roof of. Refocusing, Beastboy, Raven, and the other Titans hurried even faster this time, and also reached the roof. After about fifteen seconds of looking around for any sign of him, hope already drained, the Titans heard a crash from behind the door on the roof and ran towards it. Robin flung the door open, and saw Red-X fighting a teenage boy, who looked startled by Red-X's speed and power. There was a hole in the wall next to the boy's head, which caused the loud noise, and the boy turned to offense mode. Quickly jabbing the villain in the neck, the tall boy watched as Red-X fell down. The boy's breathing was heavy, and he looked shocked, worried, and proud all at the same time.

They all spoke simultaneously.

Raven grinned.

"Dude!" Beastboy shouted, instantly recognizing Cody.

"Woah!" Cyborg shouted, shocked.

"Most impressive," Starfire said.

"Unreal," Robin said quietly, approaching the boy as he was hitting Red-X in the back to regulate his heartbeat. Cody hit him in the head again, knocking him out.

Cody looked up at the Titans, breathing heavily from running up the stairs, and fighting Red-X.

Looking, at Beastboy, Cody spoke. "How'd I do?" he asked, grinning.

_8:30 AM..._

Cody awoke, startled, by knocking on the door. Getting up from his bed, he stumbled his way to the door, and opened it. Beastboy stood, grinning.

"Morning, dude! How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Great, actually. What about you?" Cody asked.

"Good, good. Rae's still sleeping, so I figured I'd get up and show you around the tower, you know?" Beastboy said.

"Sounds sick. Lemme change real quick," Cody said, closing the door. Slipping on a pair of black jeans, and a red muscle tee, he blinked the drowsiness away. After he had defeated Red-X, the Titans were very impressed. After Red-X was arrested, the Titans returned to the tower, and said they'd talk about it all in the morning.

Opening the door, he fist-bumped Beastboy, and off they went. Beastboy showed him the main room, which Cody couldn't get over, the game room, the outdoor training facility, and the pool Cyborg was working on adding to the basement. He had showed Cody just about everything else. When they got to the exercise room, Beastboy had to go to the bathroom.

"You can check it out, I'll be right back," Beastboy told him.

Cody entered the large workout room, and saw a traffic-light colored uniform working on tearing a punching bag from it's spot in the ceiling.

"Hey, Robin," Cody said, stepping towards Robin. "How's-"

He didn't finish, as Robin spun around, startled, and threw a roundhouse kick at the unfamiliar voice. He had been very on edge since the scare with Starfire.

Cody quickly caught the kick, and Robin's expression softened. Cody shook his hand from the force of the kick.

"Oh, hey, uh, Cody. Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy," Robin said.

"That's alright. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that," Cody responded. They shook hands.

"Good to see you. Last night was really impressive, you took him out pretty easily," Robin addressed the events of only a few hours ago.

"Well, I'm sure surprise had something to do with it," Cody said. "So are you always up this early? Beastboy told me how Raven is usually up around seven, and the rest of you guys get up around nine," Cody said.

"Usually. Today's training day, though, so Cyborg is setting up the courses and stuff downstairs. I like to get a good workout in to start the day," Robin explained.

"They say you train a lot?" Cody said.

Robin laughed. "Not as much as I used to. It was pretty much my life until... well, it's a long story."

Cody nodded. "I'd love to hear it some time. I'm sure you guys have hundreds of great stories."

"More than I'd like," Robin laughed.

Cody laughed. "Yeah, I'll bet."

"So how long are you in town for?"

"Well, I'm supposed to stay 'till Monday, but I figure I'll leave Saturday morning, get home."

Robin nodded. "Ok. You just visiting family?"

"Kinda. Family friend's funeral," Cody said, shrugging.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Robin said quietly.

"The biggest part of life is death," Cody said, smiling slightly. Not happily, but just showing he would be ok.

Robin nodded, and Beastboy entered the room.

"Dudes! What's up?" he said, grinning.

"Hey, Beastboy," Robin greeted his long-time teammate.

"What's up?" Cody knuckle-bumped him.

"Gettin' ready to set to set up the Gamestation, play some Ninja Battle 6," Beastboy said, grinning from ear to ear, holding up the case.

"Did you forget, Beastboy? We've got training today," Robin said, being his buzz-killing self.

"Aw, man! Training is so BORING!" Beastboy said.

"Too bad. Cody, you want to come give it a shot? I'd like to see what you can really do," Robin said, smiling.

"Is that an offer to join the team?" Cody asked, shocked.

"Maybe, if you do well, and the others like you," Robin said.

"Well, me and Raven do. And, all things considered, you do too. I'd say you've got some pretty good chances, dude," Beastboy told Cody.

"I'd love to give it a shot. I'd have to think about joining the team and everything, since I've got a home hundreds of miles west of here," Cody said.

"Sweet, it won't be totally boring," Beastboy said, excited.

"Excuse me?" a voice said behind them. Beastboy turned to see Raven approaching.

"Um. I mean, it'll be even more fun! Cause you _and_ Cody are there, and... Please don't hurt me," the green changeling said.

Raven smiled, and kissed him.

"Hey, Raven," Cody and Robin said simultaneously.

"Hello," she said.

Hearing a blast from outside, they knew Starfire and Cyborg had already started. For some reason, they loved training.

As the four teens made their way down to the training area, Cyborg finished his run by blasting his way through a rock wall.

"Booyah! Another record!" the massive, robotic teenager said.

"Excellent work, friend," Starfire said. "Friends Raven, Beastboy, and new friend, Cody! Greetings!" she said as she floated over to Robin, planting a kiss on his lips. As usual, he became putty in her hands. "And a glorious morning to you, boyfriend Robin."

"Morning, Star," Robin said, now happier and filled with energy again.

"What's up, y'all?" Cyborg called, walking over.

"Hey Cy," Beastboy said, high-fiving his best friend.

"Good morning, Cyborg," Raven said.

"Hey, Cyborg," Cody said, a little intimidated by him.

"Hey new guy!" Cyborg said. They also shook hands.

"New guy?" Cody said, looking to Robin.

"Not for sure yet. I talked to Cyborg, and he likes the idea of you joining the team too. But, before anything, we have to learn about you. That's why we're goin' out for pizza later-" a cheer from Beastboy interrupted him, "-and having an extra long practice today." This received groans from everyone, and Cody just nodded.

"So who's up?" Cyborg asked the group.

"I vote Cody!" Beastboy said quickly.

"I second," Robin said, though he was actually interested in seeing him, he wasn't just trying to annoy Cody.

Cyborg shrugged. "Alright, Cody starts," Cyborg said, grinning.

"What? That's just cruel! I'm new!" the 'new guy' complained.

"Starting line is over there," Cyborg said, laughing.

"Jerks," Cody said, smiling. He walked over to the starting line, and Cyborg set it to Robin's program. "Do I get a ranged weapon? I don't think hand-to-hand will do me any good against those lasers I saw," Cody said.

"How's a bo-staff sound? It deflects the lasers," Robin said.

"Perfect," Cody said, catching Robin's staff.

The timer counted down from 5, and Cody was off. Walls, turrets, traps, and flames all got in his way as he managed his way through the course.

"Dude! He can free-run!" Beatsboy exclaimed as Cody used nearly every technique he had seen on Ultimate Parkour Challenge. The others looked very confused, and Beastboy explained, still watching.

Cody spun the staff expertly, deflecting and dodging many blasts from the turrets. Several blew up from well-timed blocks, and he used it to pole-vault over a massive gap. When he finished, he had nearly beaten Cyborg's record.

Breathing heavily, we walked back to the team, who congratulated and applauded him.

"Very impressive, Cody," Robin said.

"Yeah dude, I didn't know you were a free-runner!" Beastboy said, filled with joy. Raven, holding his hand, merely sighed, smiling, at her goofy boyfriend. Resting her head on his shoulder, he looked down at her, and smiled. They kissed briefly, and he turned back to Cody, to find all eyes on them.

"You saw nothing," he said. "Anyway, now all you have to do is pass the personality test!"

"Actually, after we all finish our time trials, I want to spar with him, see just how good he is," Robin said.

Cody nodded. "Sounds cool," he said.

"Me too," Beastboy said. "I want to duel Robin too."

"Alright, after you finish your trial," Robin said, smirking and nodding to the course.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, and Cody watched carefully.

Beastboy and Robin were fighting intensely. Cody had already fought Beastboy, and just barely prevailed due to a quick decision to lash out at the only foot Beastboy had planted on the ground during a roundhouse kick. This caused Beastboy to fall, and Cody stood over him, fingertips pointed at Beastboy's chest. Victorious, he helped Beastboy up, who proceeded to fight Robin.

Robin launched a fist at Beastboy's chest, who side-stepped it. Tripping Robin, Beastboy went to knee his leader in the stomach. Before he could, Robin place a hand on Beastboy's knee, and pushed down, sending himself up. Landing next to Beastboy, he struck the green teen in the side with a hook-kick, and followed up with a leg sweep. As he hit the ground, Beastboy rolled back, got to his feet, and crouched. Robin, anticipating a tackle, braced himself seconds before Beastboy jumped. The changeling leaped above Robin, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him to the ground. Kicking up, Robin caught Beastboy in the chest, and they both lay on the ground, panting. Standing, Robin rolled forward, and kicked off the ground for an epic uppercut. Beastboy just barely dodged, and grabbed Robin's waist, flinging him to the ground. As Beastboy aimed to finish with a pin, Robin rolled sideways, stood, and tackled the surprised changeling. His fist inches from Beastboy's face, Robin had won.

This marked Cody's turn, and he stepped forward. Once Robin caught his breath, the fight began. It played out very quickly, every single move dodged or blocked, much like an action scene from a kung-fu movie. After minutes of this, Robin connected with a blow to the stomach, and a kick to the chest. Cody flew back, did a back handspring, and landed on his feet. The fight continued, and Cody struck Robin several times in the chest, before being caught in a sort of sleeper hold. He flipped Robin over him, who landed on his feet. Lightning quick, Robin spun around, and stopped his foot inches away from Cody's face.

"I... win...," Robin said, breathing heavily.

"Even though... you worked a hell of a lot... harder than I did... on the course," Cody replied through breaths.

Bruised and tired, three of the four males in the 6-person group yawned, and desired sleep.

"Ohh no, you ain't goin' to bed, we're goin' to the pizza parlor for some oh-so-delicious meat lover's pizza," Cyborg said on the way to the T-Car. It was decided Robin would take the R-Cycle with Starfire to allow for room.

"Dude, we are NOT having this discussion again! Veggie pizza!" Beastboy said.

The argument continued until they entered the T-Car, as Cody took shotgun, and Raven and Beastboy cuddled in the back.

Shutting the newly installed, soundproof barrier, like those in limousines, they began to chat.

"How are you?" Beastboy asked her, running his fingers through her hair.

She looked into his emerald eyes with her amethyst ones, and instantly they felt the connection they had, really, always had. "I'm fine," Raven said. Beastboy knew this meant great.

"Sweet," he said, holding her close to him. "I really do love you, Raven." He pulled away, his hands on her shoulders. "I think I always have. I just didn't realize it."

She smiled warmly, and kissed him passionately. "I... I love you too Gar. And you know I mean it, I would never say something that binding to someone I didn't truly love with all of my heart."

He blushed, and looked away. Raven rested her head on his chest, eyes closed.

_She's so beautiful..._ Beastboy thought. He couldn't get over how lucky he had gotten, and how much he thought he didn't deserve her. "Rae?"

She looked up. "Yes, Gar?"

"I just wanted to tell you... You're beautiful. You really, really are," he said, a bit embarrassed by his new, charming nature towards her. It was nowhere near constant, but it showed up every once in a while to make them both blush.

She blushed, and closed her eyes, smiling shyly. "Thank you," she said quietly. He gently used his hand to make her face him, and he kissed her again.

As the kiss remained intimate, neither made it into a fierce tongue war that displayed lust. Instead, they just kissed in the back of the T-Car, as Cody and Cyborg chatted, unheard, in front.

They felt the car stop, and heard a knock on both windows. Pulling apart, they looked to see Cyborg at one window, and Cody at the other. Blushing like mad, they exited the car, and the four of them entered the pizza parlor.

**Yay! I'm proud of this chapter, because I feel like it's... plausible among the Titans. I'm especially proud I could fit some BBxRae fluff in it too! ^^ As I said before, Cody will be completely introduced and explained all next chapter, and the chapter following will be all BBxRae. Hope you enjoyed the update!! They're getting long :O**


	11. The Dust Begins To Settle

**Hey guys. Ok, so I've decided that after this chapter, there will be three other Cody centric ones, not in succession, just because I need to settle the dust from his arrival and get back to Beastboy and Raven centric. This one isn't all Cody explanatory as I said. That'll be a bit later. Next chapter will, hopefully, be easier to write as well. As for my plans, 21 chapters is now the goal, so I hope you guys stick with it! Enjoy! :D**

** PS: I'm sooo sorry for the late update! I'm not sure how long it will be until the next one, but I swear it won't be that long.**

"I told you! I ain't eatin' a pizza without meat! It just ain't right!" Cyborg exclaimed to the green boy that had continuously suggested vegetarian pizza.

Raven sat next to Beastboy, for once enjoying the fight between the two.

"Uh, guys?" Robin tried to stop them. "Guys. Hey. Guys," Robin got louder.

"Quiet!" Raven yelled, patience gone.

"Thanks, Raven... Why not get three pizzas? That's four slices for everyone, and you can get whatever you'd like," Robin said to the arguing boys.

"As long as one of them is meat lovers," Cyborg grumbled.

"And vegetarian," Beastboy matching his attitude.

"Boys," Raven teased, shaking her head.

"Hey!" every male at the table shouted. Starfire giggled.

"Just order your pizzas," she said. Beastboy, Robin, and Starfire got up to order them.

"So is this really the average day for you guys?" Cody asked anyone willing to answer.

"Pretty much, except we aren't normally this tired, or bruised, when we get here," Cyborg said.

"God, you guys must love it. It sounds like the most amazing thing, being able to help people all the time, and hanging out with such cool friends," Cody said. "Not to mention no school." He grinned.

"Well, when you ain't getting your butt kicked, it's great. If you want it so badly, why not join the Titans? I mean, you already know BB and Raven pretty well, and they seem to like you, right?" The question was addressed to Raven.

"I wouldn't mind having him on the team," she simply said.

"And Robin likes you, he told me earlier. He's really paranoid, but he does. So far, at least. Once me, Star, and Robin get to know you, you could very well end up on the team," the metallic teen said.

Cody looked down at the table, quiet. "I can't. I've got too much stuff going on at home and everything. Maybe next time I visit, I'll be back in a couple of months, maybe December."

"Aw, man. That's too bad," Cyborg sympathized.

"What is?" Beastboy asked, now sitting down between Cyborg and Raven. Robin looked from Cody to Cyborg, curious.

"I can't stay. I have to get back home, hold down the fort. I'm already missing school," Cody said.

"Aww man! That's totally lame!" Beastboy complained. She was feeling a bit neglected, since her boyfriend was so interested in their new friend.

"Yeah, but I'll be back in December. Maybe I'll join then." Cody shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well, let's not let this ruin our day. Maybe we can go to the pool later. Is it done, Cyborg?" Robin asked, facing him.

"Yeah, I just finished it last night," Cyborg said, smiling.

"Who's up for swimming?" Beastboy asked. Everyone but Raven raised their hands. "Please Rae? For me?" Beastboy asked, pouting.

"I'll sit by the pool, that's it," she said.

"Pool party!" Cyborg shouted, cheers coming from the others.

At that point, the pizzas arrived.

As the Titans ate, Robin decided to get some answers. "So where did you learn to fight?" he asked.

Cody quickly swallowed his bite of pizza, and told his story of Dave, and his history with bullies. When he was done, they still had questions.

"Why did your parents move out here without you?" Starfire asked. "Did they not wish for you to accompany them?"

"They said that they finally had the money to have their own restaurant, but they could only afford a two level building. No room," he shrugged, "Since they still had the house back in Minnesota, they said I could live there, as the house is paid off anyway," Cody explained. "I told them it sounded pretty great, so I decided to stay, finish school, and go to college, hopefully, on a scholarship. I'm here now because a family friend died, so I wanted to go to the funeral, which is here. That's one of the reasons my folks moved here of all places, a good friend was here."

As Cody was bombarded with questions that Beastboy and Raven already knew the answers to, they began to chat very quietly with each other, the other Titans surrounding Cody.

"Are we sure we can trust him completely?" Raven asked, keeping her voice so low, had Beastboy's hearing been that of a normal person, he wouldn't have heard it. When he looked confused, and a bit offended that she didn't approve of his new friend, she elaborated. "I mean I don't know if we should let him join this easily. I mean, Terra-"

"Terra seemed like a perfect addition too, I know. But that was a fluke, and she'll never be part of our lives again," Beastboy reassured her.

Raven nodded, and it was quiet.

"Can we stay at the tower tonight? Maybe up on the roof or something? I don't feel much like going out," she said after a while.

"Sounds cool," Beastboy said.

"Maybe we'll go swimming once everyone's sleeping," she said monotonously and looking away. She liked swimming, but one-pieces never fit right, and bikinis were too revealing by her standards. She figured since they had been together as long as they had, a bikini wasn't a stretch.

Beastboy looked ecstatic when he heard this, and Raven glared at him slightly.

"What? I like swimming... though I can't lie, you in a bikini would be-"

She used her powers to cover his mouth, blushing intensely. "Don't say it."

He merely smiled nervously as she allowed him to speak. "Hehe, sorry," he said. Though immediately after, he mouthed the word 'amazing'. She rolled her eyes and dismissed it.

They reentered the conversation as everyone was explaining the origins of Red-X. Prior to that was Slade, Cinderblock, and Plasmus. Since the Titans never really learned the origins of these villains, they had moved on to the Titans most mysterious and controversial enemy.

"And he doesn't really have a side, he just does what's best for him. Since it includes theft, he's an enemy," Robin finished.

"That's so," Cody searched for the appropriate word, "creepy. He broke in and stole the suit? From Titans tower?"

Robin nodded. "Now he's mostly a thief, but now that you've stopped him, that's over."

"Assuming he doesn't bust out. How many times have we caught Cinderblock? Every time he manages to get out. So does Plasmus," Cyborg said.

"Don't forget Mad Mod," Beastboy reminded them.

"Who's that?" Cody asked.

"Some British guy with a suped up cane, and a bunch of advanced technology. He ain't big though," Cyborg said.

A massive burp erupted next to Robin. Everyone turned, and saw Starfire covering her mouth, blushing.

"Excuse me," she said, embarrassed. Everyone got a good laugh from that.

The Titans enjoyed their meal, and the new company, laughing and sharing all the while. Hours passed before the last slice of pizza was devoured by Cyborg, the Titans payed, and left the pizzeria.

"Last one to the pool get's dish-duty for a week," Cyborg said as they arrived back at the tower, and he began sprinting for the basement. When they reached the top floor of the Tower, Robin tripped Beastboy, who fell, and crashed into a closet filled with mops, buckets, and cleaning supplies.

Raven had already arrived at the pool before even Cyborg, using her powers to fly through walls. Before long, Starfire walked in. Looking around, they realized that neither Beastboy nor Robin were there. Suspense built as Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven watched the door in amusement.

Robin and Beastboy tried to run through the door at the same time, and got stuck. Robin had a red and black suit on, and Beastboy was still in his uniform for some, inexplicit reason. Cody could be seen behind them, and he grinned evilly. Pushing the two stuck Titans, they fell forward, and into the pool, as Cody jumped in after them, as did Cyborg, followed closely by Starfire.

Beastboy climbed out of the pool, drenched. Grabbing a towel, making his way over to Raven, he dried off.

"Why aren't you going swimming?" Raven asked. She had been planning in merely watching, but since Beastboy wasn't going, that was no longer the case.

"Tomorrow I'm going to hang out with Cody all day, so I figure today is your day," he said, smiling, as he sat down next to her.

She cocked an eyebrow. "All day with Cody?"

"Well, yeah," he said nervously, "he's leaving early Saturday, and he's really cool."

"Understandable," she said. "What would you like to do?"

Beastboy glanced at the clock. It was 4:30. "We could meditate or something. I've never tried it before," he said.

She, again, raised an eyebrow. "You want to meditate?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well... Yeah," he said, looking at her. "You were probably going to anyway, right?"

She hesitated, then nodded. She would've began to meditate within a few minutes of Beastboy falling into the pool.

"So I'll do it with you," he said. "One problem."

"Yes?"

"How exactly _do_ you do it?"

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

__Everyone sat around the wooden table in the main room of the tower, eating the BBQ diner Cyborg had cooked up. Beastboy had, however, made his own meal of vegetable fried rice.

As they ate, yawns escaped the mouths of several of the teens.

"I need some shut-eye," Cyborg said after he dropped his fork from falling half-asleep. Getting up and scraping his plate, he placed it next to the sink, and headed for the door. "Night y'all," he said, yawning. A chorus of goodnights followed him.

"Me too," Cody sighed, standing up. He washed his plate and returned it to the cupboard.

"Me three," Beastboy said, looking at Raven. She smiled back, and they stood up.

"I could use some sleep too, since Robin decided to drain every ounce of energy out of us at practice," she said, glaring at the Boy Wonder, who grinned.

"Night guys," he said.

"Goodnight, friends. May you have a pleasant slumber," Starfire said.

Cody went one way, and Beastboy and Raven went another, waving at the intergalactic couple.

Beastboy and Raven entered their room, they shared now, and grabbed their bathing suits. Though they shared a bed, they had yet to move very far, sexually. They hadn't yet seen eachother in the nude, and hadn't made any sort of plans as to when they would.

Raven entered the bathroom, and they changed quickly into their suits. Beastboy looked away from the mirror, he had been looking at the abs he had been so proud of, and saw more of Raven than he ever believed he would.

Blushing like mad, she stepped into their room wearing a purple and black bikini. She had grabbed the one that did it's job the best, and it covered her most private areas quite well. She was holding her left arm at the elbow with her right, nervous.

Beastboy couldn't believe the sight, and merely stared for a good thirty seconds, before the mirror cracked slightly behind him. Snapping back to reality, he smiled at the empath, who's entire face was red, contrasting her pale skin.

"You look-" he managed to get out, before being interrupted.

"If I become any more embarrassed, we'll be without a room," she said quietly. Grabbing their towels, they ventured off to the pool. They both appreciated the silence as they slowly stepped down the small set of stairs and into the water.

Beastboy floated on his back, when a surprise blast of water crashed into his face. Having a miniature freak-out, he stood upright, and looked to see Raven laughing quietly.

"Dude! You scared me!" he said.

She merely shrugged, and splashed him again. This time, he splashed her back, and slowly got closer. Fighting a losing battle, she held her arms up to protect her from the cold water. Grabbing her wrists, Beastboy pulled her arms down, and kissed her. Kissing back, she wrapped her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his around her waist. Suddenly, he submerged them both in the water, causing Raven to squirm and shiver slightly underwater. When they resurfaced, she swam away from Beastboy, who gave chase. Grinning malevolently, she used her powers to summon a gigantic wave, and send it straight at Beastboy, who was lost beneath the white caps created from the splash. He resurfaced, gasping, and glared at her playfully, while she smiled innocently. Shivering, she decided she had had enough of the cold pool, and flew out. Beastboy got out too, trying to stop her from leaving.

"I'm just going to the hot tub," she said, rolling her eyes at her paranoid, green boyfriend.

"Sweet!" he said, eagerly climbing in with her. They began to chat of their future, as some couples tend to do, and talked of the future with the Titans as well as, assuming they stayed together, where they would live, what their house would be like, etc.. For a good hour they spoke of possibilities, certainties, fears, and how grateful they were that everything had worked out in their favor.

As the night drew to a close, the young couple felt severe drowsiness overtake them.

Venturing upstairs via elevator, the young couple walked to their room, changed, and crawled into bed. They both fell asleep instantaneously, yet again sharing a dream, this time of married life in the Tower with two small children, with Robin and Starfire, two children of their own, and Cyborg and Bumblebee. All was at peace in the city, and it had been for a long time.

Envious, they knew that that future was nigh impossible to achieve. For now, they would have to save the city, fight for their love, and be ready for just about anything.

**Alrighty, not too proud of this chapter, but whatever. They'll get better pretty soon. I'm having trouble for two reasons:**

**The uneventful chapters are less than easy to write**

**Not enough reviews! Even if you hate it, review it! Not harshly, please, but review it!**

** I'll try to update soon!! D:**


	12. The Memories

**Hey guys. I'm sorry I keep taking so long with the updates, I'm just not getting enough reviews. Mention this story to your fellow Titanites for me? The more reviews I get, the more I'll update. I'll set up a standard, so that every 10 reviews I update. Hope you enjoy, I think the story is bombing a little.**

Cody and Beastboy were playing Guitar Hero, Cody on drums and Beastboy on guitar and microphone. As they finished up Audience of One by Rise Against, Cody stood up, and stretched his sore back.

"That thing needs to get heightened," he said, groaning from the pain in his back.

"Get over it," Beastboy said, laughing.

"Jerk," Cody glared at him, Beastboy laughed more. "You have a really good singing voice, you realize that don't you?" Cody asked.

"Actually, I-"

"He just hit puberty or something, his voice used to crack and rasp all the time," Raven said, walking in to get some tea.

"Hey! It barely cracked!" Beastboy said, offended.

"If you say so," she said, grinning.

"Which I do," he said, giving her a kiss as she passed him again, leaving. Turning back, he saw Cody laughing quietly.

"Shut up," Beastboy said, blushing a little.

"You're a beast at this game, dude. How'd you get so good?" Cody asked.

"Well, I guess I'm just an alright singer, and I can play the guitar, so maybe that's got something to do with it," Beastboy told him.

"What? Since when can you play guitar?" Cody asked. So far, he and Beastboy had been playing video games and chatting all day. As of now it was three o'clock, and they were bored to tears.

"Since forever! In the Doom Patrol, my team before the Titans, that's all I did on my down time! I even practice here sometimes," Beastboy said.

"What songs can you play? Any of The Offspring?" Cody asked.

"Just 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid'."

"What about Avenged Sevenfold?"

"I can play all of the City of Evil album and 'Scream'."

"Green Day?"

"No."

"Three Days Grace?"

"Nope."

"Sixx:A.M.?"

"'Life Is Beautiful' and 'Van Nuys'."

"Do you know Famous?"

"By who?"

"Puddle of Mudd."

"Yeah."

Cody cheered, and pointed to an ad in the newspaper. It said there was a little battle of the bands at Eclipse Records in downtown Jump City tonight at 7. The set length was three songs, and the winner got 5,000 dollars.

Beastboy shook his head. "No way am I embarrassing myself like that. We don't even had a bassist! Or a drummer!"

"I can drum, and I know three of those songs. 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid', 'Life Is Beautiful', and 'Famous'. That's like, a sign from God! We should go!"

"If we can find a bassist," Beastboy said, assuming he would be victorious, considering that no other Titans played any instruments.

"Well, damn," Cody said, disappointed.

"You can't be serious about this," Beastboy looked at him as though he were a psycho.

"Serious about what?" asked Cyborg, reentering the room.

"Cody wants to perform at amateur night at some music place downtown. Eclipse or something."

Cody nodded excitedly. "We need a bassist though. Too bad too, the winner gets 5,000 bucks." Cody looked at Cyborg, hoping against hope.

Cyborg's jaw nearly hit the floor. "For one song?!"

"Actually, a set of three. Ironically enough, BB and I know more than enough for that," Cody said, saddened that he had had such good luck up until this point.

"Well, I can't play bass. Yet, at least. I could always download the ability," Cyborg said, grinning at the other two teens in the room, who were confused and agitated by the clichéd turn of events.

"What? There is no way you're pulling a Matrix on me," Beastboy said. Cyborg nodded.

"With all those instructions on the net? Of course I could learn it. And with 5,000 bucks I could get a new TV. Or maybe a system. Or a massive stockpile of games!" At this point Cyborg was practically drooling.

"So why not?! It would be so amazing to get up and just rock out. I've never been able to show my drum skills off," Cody said, looking eagerly from Cyborg to Beastboy.

After a long pause, Cyborg and Beastboy simultaneously stated they were in.

"So what songs am I learning?" Cyborg asked.

"'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid' by the Offspring, 'Famous' by Puddle of Mudd, and 'Life Is Beautiful' by Sixx:A.M.," Cody said, grinning from ear to ear.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

"Where are you three going?" Robin asked as he watched Cody, Beastboy, and Cyborg meet up in the main room, in civilian clothes. Beastboy and Cyborg had holo-rings on, they looked completely normal now. Cyborg looked like he did before the accident, in tight black clothes with rock horns on his shirt, Beastboy was dressed in his black Avenged Sevenfold shirt with black camouflage jeans slightly sagged, and Cody was wearing a red and black Sixx:A.M. hoodie on with dark red camouflage jeans.

"Well, uh, you see, Cody kinda convinced us to go to this little battle of the bands thing at a record place downtown," Beastboy said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You are engaging in a battle? As civilians? You will most certainly be injured!" Starfire said. Cody, Beastboy, and Cyborg all sighed as Robin explained to Starfire exactly what they were talking about. "Oh, I see. I wish to accompany you, and cheer for you! I am sure Robin would enjoy viewing your performance also."

"Sure, that'd be pretty fun to watch," Robin said, grinning maliciously.

"Are you saying we'll crash and burn?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm saying I have little faith you'll really win," Robin said condescendingly.

Raven entered the room, and saw her boyfriend, Cyborg, and Cody dressed like, essentially, rock stars.

"Ok, what's going on?" she asked.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

That night, Beastboy, Cyborg, and Cody all stood backstage, warming up for their performance, while the others sat towards the front of the crowd, also wearing holo-rings or just civilian outfits. They hadn't had trouble signing up, since only one act, an Evanescence cover band, had come before them, and a heavy metal band after them. The downside? The cover band was amazing, and Cyborg was still a bit iffy on his parts. They felt out of place at a rock concert as superheroes who had never outwardly shown any sort of aspiration to do this sort of thing, but at the same time they really liked the idea.

"I can't believe we're really doing this," Beastboy said, stunned by the random adventure.

"5,000 dollars is 5,000 dollars, and it's completely worth the possibilities," Cyborg said.

"That's the spirit, Cy. Now, what do we call our band?" Cody asked, laughing nervously.

"Oh! Perfect time for my... nevermind," Beastboy dismissed his comment. "How about Casual Night Out?" he proposed.

Cody looked to Cyborg. They nodded. "Sounds great to me," Cody said.

"Yeah, dude, how'd you come up with that so fast?" Cyborg asked.

"Well, I kinda, uh, used to fantasize about being in a rock band, and that was always my band's name," he said, laughing nervously while rubbing the back of his neck. Cyborg and Cody looked at eachother, and burst out laughing.

"Alright, what's you're band's name?" the manager of the store asked them.

"Casual Night Out," Beastboy said, grinning.

"Ok, you're up," he said. For a couple hours, they had been warming up and practicing. They told themselves even if they lost, they'd still have a hell of a lot of fun. As they stepped on stage, a few people clapped, and the others were smiling.

"Next up is Casual Night Out, with a few rock songs for you!" the announcer said.

The crowd came alive again, and turned to the stage.

"Uh, hey. We're Casual Night Out, and we're here to blow your minds!" Beastboy shouted to the crowd, trying to overcome his nerves. All three of them were shaking a little. Cody and Cyborg face-palmed the overdone greeting.

"Let's rock this ship! Life Is Beautiful by Sixx:A.M.!" Beastboy said, embarrassing himself further. As they began to play, the crowd picked up massively, getting into the music, and instantly Beastboy was practically in love with the feeling of being on stage, performing. He started to sing.

_"You can't quit until you try_  
_You can't live until you die_  
_You can't learn to tell the truth_  
_Until you learn to lie"_

As Beastboy sang, some part of him began to think about Raven, and their battle with Trigon. Raven always believing that no matter what, if Trigon came, they would all die. She had given up before he came, and completely disregarded the Titan's ability. Once she became the portal, the Titans had done everything they could, and were nearly defeated, until Robin returned with a young Raven, reborn into a new life with an actual choice in her destiny.

She had denied her destiny all of her life, learned to hide it from her friends. By the time she told the, it was nearly too late.

_"You can't breathe until you choke  
You gotta laugh when you're the joke  
There's nothing like a funeral  
__To make you feel alive_

"I felt like I could finally breathe," Raven told Beastboy a long while ago. "Like my father wasn't limiting me to feeling absolutely nothing. Before, I couldn't laugh, I couldn't yell, I couldn't go anywhere without feeling, and every time I did I got so scared. When I came back, I could... think. I could laugh, I could smile, and I could cry without any consequence. The only thing that ever affected me was shock or anger, and even then it was miniscule. For the first time, I felt alive."

_"Just open your eyes  
Just open your eyes  
And see that life is beautiful.  
Will you swear on your life  
That no one will cry at my funeral?  
I know some things that you don't  
I've done things that you won't  
There's nothing like a trail of blood  
to find your way back home  
I was waiting for my hearse  
What came next was so much worse  
It took a funeral to make me feel alive_

Raven knew her future had nothing in it, but she never would have guessed that her friends would be endangered aswell.

_"Just open your eyes  
Just open your eyes  
And see that life is beautiful.  
Will you swear on your life,  
That no one will cry at my funeral?  
_

_____Alive, Just open your eyes  
______Just open your eyes  
________And see that life is beautiful.  
__Will you swear on your life,  
__That no one will cry at my funeral?_

_Just open your eyes  
Just open your eyes  
And see that life is beautiful.  
Will you swear on your life,  
That no one will cry at my funeral?_"

When they finished, the whole crowd was either applauding or in a massive mosh-pit. Chills ran down the teen's spines, and they felt lighter than air. They all high-fived, and the audience again fell silent.

"Next up is 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid' by The Offspring," Cody said. They all started to play again. When Beastboy piped up and started to sing, he found himself thinking of Terra's betrayal. He dismissed it quickly, and kept his focus on singing. His pain may have subsided, but his anger at Terra was still burning with a strong passion. He looked at Raven for comfort, and saw that she and Robin were talking. Instantly, he felt, oddly, angry. More so than he had in a long time.

"_Show me how to lie  
You're getting better all the time  
And turning all against one  
Is an art that's hard to teach  
Another clever word  
Sets off an unsuspecting herd  
And as you step back into line  
A mob jumps to their feet  
Now dance, fucker, dance  
Man, he never had a chance  
And no one even knew  
It was really only you..."_

He continued singing, surprisingly well, and the song came to an end a few minutes later.

"We are kicking so much ass!" Cody said quietly.

"Aw, yeah. We are so gonna win this thing," Cyborg whispered back.

"Let's finish this up, I want to be able to spend this tonight," Beastboy said, grinning widely.

"Classic BB," Cyborg said as they began playing yet again.

When the song ended, the crowd became louder than the Titans had been all night. The applause died down when the next group came up on stage, and Beastboy, Cyborg, and Cody all waited patiently for the announcing of the winners.

"Most wonderful!" Starfire said, running backstage and hugging the boys. Robin trailed her, and Raven quickly walked to her boyfriend's side.

"That was really good, guys! Surprisingly so," Robin said.

"Dang right!" Cyborg said.

"Psh, and you thought we would fail," Cody laughed.

"So, Rae, what's it like having a rock star boyfriend?" Beastboy asked, grinning, with his arm around her waist.

"Hardly. You were great though," she said, smiling.

"Hehe, thanks," he said, hugging her.

The Titans chatted a bit, discussing the list of things they would be buying, should they win the 5,000 dollars.

"Alright! We've had some great talent here tonight, folks, but now it's time to decide who gets the 5,000 dollar prize! Get out here guys," an announcer on stage said. All three bands walked on stage, and the audience immediately sprang to life, cheering for whomever happened to be their favorite. "Clap for who you think should win! How about Nuclear Era?!" the announcer asked, pointing to the metal band that had just been up. Applause filled the facility, the announcer nodded. "Alright, alright. How'd you like 619?!" he asked, pointing to the Evanescence cover band. Applause nearly deafened the Titans, and they were positive they had lost.

"Cool, cool. Now, last, but most certainly not least, Casual Night Out!" the announcer called to the massive crowd, finally slicing through the tension built between the trio.

Applause erupted from the audience, accompanied by cheers and yells, and the Titans actually had to cover their ears the pain was so great, all from _noise_. Beastboy was certain the roof would collapse.

"I think we have a winner! Congratulations to Casual Night Out! You just won 5,000 dollars, in cash!" the announcer said, handing over a little briefcase filled with money.

Chills shot through the three shocked Titans, and their expressions shifted from pure amazement to victorious smiles stretching across their faces.

"We won!" Cyborg exclaimed, jumping for joy.

"Dudes, we did it!" Beastboy shouted. Cody high-fived both of them, and looked at the crowd. He waved, and they again went nuts.

Exiting the stage, the boys met back up with the others.

"That was insane! We totally creamed those other guys!" Beastboy shouted.

"Job well done," Robin said.

"Now... how to spend these bad boys," Cody said, opening the case filled with money.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

The Titans were all home, preparing to go to bed or sleeping. As the night came to a sad ending, Beastboy entered his room quietly to find Raven sleeping silently in their bed, a book on the nightstand. She had gotten the book that day, with the money used from the battle of the bands, and already she had finished it. Beastboy rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's far superior intellect, pulling on his pajamas and carefully climbing into bed. Sighing rather quietly, he nearly had a heart attack when Raven spoke monotonously, having shown no signs of consciousness.

"Long day?" she asked, turning to face him. He nodded. "What did you guys manage to do that kept you busy for another four and a half hours? When we left the department store, you had spent all of your money," she said, facing the window again, eyes closed.

"Well, not all of it. We sorta went to an arcade, then we crashed back here around ten, set up our new GameStation, games, Dance Dance Revolution, the band kit for Guitar Hero, and Time Crisis 2: Arcade. I creamed Cyborg at DDR, by the way. Then we ate a late night pizza. Cyborg crashed earlier, and me and Cody wrestled for a little bit. It was a pretty sweet night," he said, smiling. However much he wanted to share about his night, he decided against it, since Raven was obviously tired. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and at that point he realized how much different she was from a few months ago. She was slightly taller, and remained slim, however the curves of her body were less drastic, giving her a body matching Arella's, not that Beastboy would know that. Somehow, she had had a full-on growth spurt in the span of two and a half months. He had to admit he thoroughly enjoyed the change, no matter how perverse it made him, taking into account the fact that her... accessories... had grown as well.

She slowly rolled over to look at him, catching him gazing at her lovingly. Every time she looked that deep into his eyes, she would always be lost for minutes on end, trying to look away, and finding herself completely unable. He shifted onto his back, and she snuggled up closer to him, cold. Resting her head on his shoulder and an arm on his chest, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Beastboy wrapped his hand around her back, and stared at the ceiling, thinking. He began to recall their adventures in saving the world, the 'whole dang universe' as Cyborg had said, and the significant battle that the comment was spawned from. The battle with Trigon. This brought on his deep confusion for who Raven was, and until they had gotten together, he hadn't known her as well as he would have liked. This brought up the memory of her and Robin's closeness. The envy he carried about Robin during the end of the world. He was envious of Robin's uber-closeness to Raven, the mental bond they shared, and Raven's consistent display of appreciation throughout all of it. She hugged Robin so closely, but when Beastboy hugged her he got a dismissive "quit it". He knew very well that that was a long time ago, and things had changed. But he couldn't help but feel as though Robin and Raven had always been closer, and even now could be.

"Is something wrong?" the apparently conscious Raven asked.

"Not at all, why do you ask?" he asked a bit too quickly.

"In case you forgot, I'm an empath. I would be able to sense your jealousy from a mile away. What's bothering you?" she asked.

"It's... nothing. Don't worry about it," he said.

"Beastboy, the passion behind that feeling _woke me up_. What is it?"

"You promise you won't make fun of me?" She nodded. "I'm sorta jealous of... how close you and Robin were. Or are. Or... I dunno."

She propped herself up on her elbows, looking into his eyes. They sat up. "What is there to be jealous of? He's just a good friend."

"You two seemed so close when Trigon was taking over," he said, nervous. Reading her expression that said 'continue', he did so. "He was always talking to you in private, and touching you comfortingly, and just making you feel better, you know? And whenever I did that, I got yelled at," he said quietly. Instantly, she felt a pang of guilt as she sensed his deep sadness from her reactions at his attempts to be helpful. "I heard you guys talking, and you said something about him knowing you better than anyone, and how you two had that mental bond thingy. I know it's old, and I'm surprised I remember it, but I do, and I don't really know why I'm so jealous _now_. You two just seemed like, really close when all that was going down. And you even hugged him! The only time I've seen you hug someone is then, and when you hugged me after the whole Malchior thing."

She thought for a bit. "Gar, Robin and I _are_ good friends, but he doesn't know me that well anymore. When I was, basically, reborn, that connection was severed. I lost my father's powers, therefore everything they had ever been connected to. When I regained them, the bond was broken, and soon after Trigon we had a fall out. He stuck with Starfire, any strong bond with me gone. Up until recently, I haven't had someone who knew me well enough to know my favorite color, and now you know me better than anyone ever has." She looked up at him. "And ever will. You acknowledge my flaws, and you practically worship them. You treat me like a queen, and I've never deserved that."

He smiled. "Really?" he asked excitedly.

"Really," she said, laying down with him. "If you're still feeling that way, we'll talk in the morning. It's 1:24, and I'd like some sleep," she said. Kissing him, she once again rested her head on his shoulder. "Goodnight, Beastboy."

"G'night, Rae. I love you," he said, half-hugging her quickly. She returned it.

"I love you too," she said, eyes closed.

Sleep came easily that night, as Beastboy was dead-tired, and Raven was extremely happy and excited to have Beastboy back at her side. She focused on the idea of sleep, and that it would bring the next day very quickly.

Before long, the Tower fell silent, filled with the soft snores of six teenage superheroes.

**To be completely honest, I got the idea for the beginning of the chapter from Saffire55's story Titan Rock Bands, which was inspired by another story I've never read. I didn't know what else to do, really, so I just took my desire for a songfic, took that story, shoved them into a blender filled with my favorite music, and hit Frappe.**

** This is a semi-long chapter, and I hope it's ok. I personally think the story is getting worse with each chapter, and it's really worrying me. Uneventful, rather all over the place, and I feel absence of character bonding. Idk, but you all NEED to review, or else I honestly will not update this story. Once I get 90 reviews, I'll get the next chapter up. Until then, I just don't have the will power, since I feel like no one is reading. Please, please please please review! Even if you don't like it, correct me. No flames, please, but I NEED reviews.! The next chapter will be rather long too, hopefully I'll have it up within a weeks time. Sorry that I have to play hardball, but I don't know how to improve if you don't tell me!**


	13. Return To Normality

**Before anyone bites my head of for any sort of OOC-ness in this chapter, there honestly isn't. It may appear so considering I am starting to drift their personalities to those in the Teen Titans comics. Both the 2003 Teen Titans series by Geoff Johns, started anyway, (AMAZING! A must read for Titans fans, and if you're at all confused, I'd be more than willing to help.) and the more recent 2008 Titans by Judd Winick. They both rock, and I suggest them to all of you.**

When morning came, Beastboy awoke in his bed lacking a certain empathic teenage half-demon. Stretching, he stood up to find a note on his dresser. Cody had left it, saying that he had gone to the funeral, and would be back late that night. He slipped into his costume and checked the time. The clock read 12:37, and he sighed. Upon entering the kitchen, he found none of his friends, only another note stating their locations. Robin was outside, training, Starfire was at the mall, Raven had gone to the store in which they got their costumes, it had been set up for them by Batman, and Cyborg was researching young heroes, attempting to find a few to make a new Teen Titans team, allowing them to become the Titans. So far, he had nothing.

Stretching again, he made his way to the refrigerator, and grabbed a tofu-dog and a Monster. Rubbing his eyes, he opened the cupboard, grabbed some chips, and poured them onto the plate. He began to think.

He thought about how he'll visit Cody when he could. He thought about Raven, and what she could possibly be doing at their costume store. He thought about how last night, he had told Raven everything was alright, pretended to accept her response, and built the facade back up around the fact that he had a hidden... hatred, almost, for that part of Robin that had acted like he had known Raven, and been her greatest friend ever.

Robin had always bossed Beastboy around, which, he supposed, was expected. But he also yelled at Beastboy more than anyone, save Raven. Raven had an excuse though, seeing as Beastboy had always bugged her. Robin had consistently made Beastboy fight him as of late, knowing full well he would win. He acted so condescendingly when he won, too, as if he knew he would win. Why fight then? Beastboy gave it to him one time. He had forgotten to hold back, and nearly knocked Robin out with a vicious right hook.

Why did Robin always act like he was the king of everyone? Not leader. King. Commander. Master.

Why did he console the other Titans... save Beastboy? Surely someone else had noticed? Beastboy always followed suit, accepted it.

Beastboy took a few swigs of his drink, and shook his head. It was all just run-off of his envy. That was it. Beastboy and Robin were good friends, and they never fought.

Not yet.

Raven and Robin entered the main room as Beastboy finished his small meal. Raven was sporting a plain blue hoodie, and dark blue jeans. Two shopping bags were in her left hand.

"Hey Rae," Beastboy said, smiling. She winked in response, and Beastboy knew something was up.

"Hey Beastboy," Robin said, and resumed his conversation with Raven. They were talking about training, of course. "Training tomorrow."

As if Beastboy needed reminding. He tried to be nice, since all that Robin had 'done' was in the past. "Fantastic," Beastboy said, sarcasm oozed from the word that came out just a little too nonchalantly.

Raven walked up to Beastboy. "I have a couple of surprises," she said, a small smile on her lips. She herself didn't think much of them, but she knew Beastboy certainly would.

"Can't wait," he said, grinning. His gaze shifted upwards, and he caught Robin eying them. He also noticed Robin was again taller than him. Not much, an inch or so.

"I'm heading out, gonna go to the costume store, then find Star. Call me if you two need anything," Robin said, and he left.

"So what about a surprise?" Beastboy asked, looking back to Raven. She took a couple steps back.

"Well, since you've confirmed my suspicion that I am absent of my father's influence, I'm exploring new ways to express myself. I intend to do so in every way possible, as long as it is socially acceptable, that is," Raven said, turning around. "What..." she lifted up the back of her hoodie to reveal a rather large sized lower back tattoo of a raven, it's wings spread, in a nose dive, "do you think?"

Beastboy stood, shocked. Raven, of all people, had gotten a lower back tattoo! A tramp stamp! "Woah," he breathed. "When you decide to express yourself, you really go all out."

"Well, I didn't wish for it to be anywhere else, and since this is typical of girls my age, I decided I would get it. I like it. It... makes me feel normal," she said, turning back around. Seeing the look Beastboy had on his face made her put her hood back up. "Stop staring at me."

"It looks great, Rave. I like it too," he said, grinning.

"I'm beginning to wonder how many nicknames you'll be giving me," she said.

"I'm lookin' at about 16," he replied, grinning. She smiled, and set her bags on the counter. "What're those?"

"I said I had surprises," she said, emphasizing the last S, and pulling out a white and purple heap of clothes. Beastboy approached the counter, and Raven turned to show him a costume much like his. The only massive change was the color scheme. It was mostly white, except the torso had a patch of purple spread out across it. It covered his whole back, save for the uppermost part, the sleeves, which were t-shirt length, and his sides. His abs, pecks, and shoulders all were white, as well as just above a purple belt. The neck was purple, as were the boots.

"Sweet! Is this mine?" he asked, ecstatic. His uniforms were getting very tight, and he was looking forward to a costume change soon.

She nodded. "I thought you would appreciate a new look."

"It's amazing, Raven. Thank you," he said, kissing her. He quickly ran out of the room with his uniform, and came back in within thirty seconds in his new uniform. "Dude! It's perfect! And look," he said, "my arms can _breathe_!"

Raven laughed, and pulled out another purple heap of clothing.

"I take it that's yours?" he asked.

"Yep," she said, and vanished. About two minutes later, she returned in a brand new costume.

She now wore boots that went up to her mid thigh, and gloves that ran to her upper arms. Her leotard was relatively the same, however it now was somewhat like a dress that came down to her calves, with two large slits on the sides that caused it to expose her upper thighs. Her gem-belt was still there, as was a small, lighter colored pattern resembling a Raven just above it. The tops of her boots had two small rectangles of cloth missing, as did her gloves, the fingers of which only covered her middle and ring finger. Two large gems with raven's wings clasped the hooded cloak to her leotard.

Beastboy merely stared. She blushed harder. "I take it you like this aswell?"

He nodded, and approached her, thoroughly examining her new costume. "It makes you look like a real adult, not just a young little kid anymore."

"As does yours, which is why I got it for you," she said. "You act like too much of a kid already. Save for the fact that you flirt much more with me, usually on how nice my body is or how beautiful I am."

"You say it as if it's not well-deserved. I mean, they..." He stopped when he caught Raven's blush coated glare. "Besides, I barely do it!" he exclaimed, offended. "Do you hate it?" he asked after a few moments or torturous silence.

"Surprisingly, I don't. I find it refreshing that you think of me that way, even if your ways of showing it are rather... blunt."

"Most would say disrespectful and rude," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Because most have been complimented by more than a single man in their lifetime," she argued.

"Well, it's my pleasure, babe," he said, and they kissed. They didn't make out much anymore, since they just didn't enjoy it as much as a long embrace and a meaningful kiss. They stood like that for a few minutes, hugging each other. They felt very content in each other's arms, like nothing would hurt them.

As they day passed, Raven changed into a purple t-shirt and faded, arctic camouflage jeans. Her and Beastboy sat together on the roof, talking, when Robin and Starfire returned. Immediately, Starfire had set out to find Raven, since she felt an insane urge to show Raven every single article of clothing she had purchased at the massive mall. Raven groaned under her breath at the fact the her day was, essentially, spent.

"Hey, Robin," Beastboy greeted his teammate of four years.

"Hey, Beastboy. Nice costume. Raven get it for you?" Robin asked, impressed.

"Yeah, she said it make's me look older, more like the adult I, essentially, am." Beastboy laughed. "We're really growing up, aren't we?"

"Too fast, in my opinion."

"Warp's clock is still in the evidence room," Beastboy said, grinning.

"Don't even think about it."

"You got it, short pants," Beastboy said, smirking.

"Hey! Everyone's clothes were in the wash! I got backlogged since _somebody_," he shot Beastboy a look, "broke the washing machine! It was either Star's short-shorts or my underwear!"

"Had you gone in your underwear, there wouldn't have been a fight at all."

Robin frowned, and the two laughed. Making their way inside, they ran into Cyborg.

"Woah! What did I miss?" Cyborg asked, walking alongside the new and improved Beastboy.

"Me and Raven got new costumes," Beastboy said as they entered the main room and spotted Raven and Starfire talking, Raven showing Starfire her new costume. "See? Aren't they great?"

"Aw, yeah. You guys finally look like adults!" Cyborg laughed. He was the oldest Titan, 23, and was always ready to pick on his younger 'siblings'.

"And you look the same," Raven said, grinning. Cyborg frowned, and the others laughed. Their poking fun at each other, however, was cut short by the alarm blaring, causing the entire tower to flash red.

Robin rushed to the computer, Cyborg ready to bolt to the T-Car. "Coordinates?" Cyborg asked.

"This can't be right... This says that there's no activity in the city," Robin said.

"And that means...," Beastboy began, chills crawling up his spine.

"Someone is inside the tower. Someone dangerous," Cyborg said.

"Titans, go! Find the intruder, and stop him!" Robin said, and they were all off. It didn't take long, Robin had searched the evidence room first.

"Put the bag down, X. You're not getting away this time," Robin said, angered by Red-X's appearance. He was carrying a large sack filled to the brim with evidence from past arrests, including his old belt.

"Easy there, boyscout. I'm here to fix a little problem that _you_ created. I didn't come to-"

"Fight? You broke into our home. That's exactly what you're going to get," Beastboy said upon arriving.

"Last time you got downed by Cody, and he doesn't even have powers. You're out of xenothium, and time," Raven said.

"Why do you think I'm stealing all of this equipment, kid? I'm trying to find a way to power this suit without the risk of blowing this city, and myself, off of the face of the Earth. If you wanna point fingers, aim it at the good ol' boy blunder over there," Red-X said. You could hear the smug little smile on his face. He waved before sprinting down the hallway towards the roof. He reached the top of the stairs, and kicked the door open, only to be knocked back down and into the wall by a massive green bull, the sack of 'goodies' flying forward, out of his hands, and onto the roof. Dazed, the bull morphed back into Beastboy, who jumped down the stairs, and turned into a tiger. Red-X stood, and attempted to blast Beastboy down the next flight of stairs with an explosive X. Just before it reached the changeling, a black aura surrounded it and redirected it. The X detonated with a bang like that of a gunshot, and Red-X flew backwards, smoldering, into the wall. He slid down and lay still. Cautiously, the Titans approached him.

"Gotcha," Red-X said, leaping through Cyborg's legs. Quickly, he spun around and smacked an EMP X onto Cyborg's back. Cyborg squirmed and cursed, and within seconds was completely shut down.

"Four to go," he said, still filled with confidence. Robin tried to strike Red-X as Starfire floated behind him, ready to apprehend the worthy adversary. As Red-X rolled out of the way of the blow, Beastboy, now in ram mode, knocked the wind out of Red-X's stomach, and sent the thief back up the stairs, out onto the roof. Grabbing for his bag, he felt a force tug on his cape. Turning, he saw Raven's black energy crawling up his cape, towards him. Fear injected itself into his heart as he watched her dark appearance, a look of murder in her eyes. He assumed that was the demon half of her, getting ready to destroy the man who had caused trouble several times within weeks. He saw Starfire aiming a starbolt at his head, and acted quickly. He generated a large, elastic X, and threw it at the two Titan girls. They were both suddenly blasted by each other's attack, and sent flying in opposite directions. Starfire took out Robin and Beastboy, who had just reached the top of the staircase after assisting Cyborg, and Raven tumbled to the edge of the roof, slamming into the ground and rolling over the edge, thus beginning her decent to certain doom. Weakly, she blinked once, and watched as the ground raced to meet her, and end her all-too-short life.

Red-X sighed. "Dammit," he said, shaking his head. Sprinting for the edge of the roof, he dove off towards the unconscious Raven. Moments before Raven made impact, he grabbed her around the waist, and teleported them to the safety of the roof.

"Crap. Now I don't have the juice to get home," Red-X muttered.

Raven looked around, shocked, tired, and pained all at once. She closed her eyes, let them rest and refocus, and opened them. She tried to stand, but found herself too tired, and unable.

"That's alright, we got a nice little prison cell made just for you," Cyborg said, sending a punch for Red-X's face. Barely dodging, the thief tripped the tin-man and made for his stolen property.

He glanced at Beastboy, and spoke very quietly. "Protect her with all you've got. Make sure she's happy," he said, just before a metal fist slammed into his face, knocking his mask off. Before the Titans even managed to sneak a peak, the villain covered his face with his hands, and leaped from the edge of the building before vanishing in midair. The bag of stolen items lay on the roof, half of it's contents pouring from it.

"DUDE! Not again!" Beastboy shouted, infuriated. "I thought he didn't have the power to get home!"

"He doesn't. He's in the city, somewhere along the coast. With the xenothium readouts I was getting, he can't be farther than a quarter of a mile away," Cyborg said, checking his systems for damages.

"Then we'll have to find him," Robin said, glaring at the city that was hiding their number one threat as of late.

Raven finally stood up, dazed and very confused. "Did what I think just happened, really happen?" she asked, looking around.

"Red-X blasted you off of the roof. Then he saved your life," Beastboy said, uncertain if he was answering her question or not.

"Wasn't he trying to kill us in the first place?" she asked of everyone, dizzy.

"Apparently he means it when he says he isn't looking to fight," Beastboy said.

"It matters not. He is a thief, and he is mean, and he will be brought to justice. Correct, Robin?" Starfire said, clearly angry with Red-X being such a nuisance lately.

"Right, Star. We'll catch him again, and this time we'll bring him down for good," Robin said.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

Unsuccessfully, the entire day was spent searching for the phantom the was Red-X. Beastboy hadn't found time to talk to Raven in private yet, as they were all separated, combing through the streets for any sign of the master thief. As they returned to the tower, they found no sign of Cody in the main room. It was 1:30 AM, and the team decided to call it. Upon passing Cody's room, Beastboy heard loud snoring, and laughed to himself. When he entered his room, Raven was already on the bed, appearing cold without a blanket. Beastboy climbed into bed, and pulled his blanket over the two of them, Raven, almost like clockwork, moved closer to Beastboy. He decided he would talk to Raven about Red-X's comment before anything else, as it was, in his mind, creepy.

"Rae?" he checked to see if she was awake enough to speak.

"Yes, Garfield?" she responded, rather annoyed, but more than willing to listen to her lover. He sounded worried.

"Today on the roof, after he saved you, Red-X told me to protect you with all that I can, and to always make sure you're happy," Beastboy said cautiously.

She sighed. "He's being very confusing. Isn't he supposed to be a bad guy?"

"That's what Robin said, but I'm not sure he really is bad. Maybe he just... does what he wants, you know? And maybe he decided you were worth saving," he said. "I mean, you are pretty amazing."

"If you already have an opinion, why mention this to me?"

"Because I want to know what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking we'll know plenty when he is captured and arrested. This time, we're going to have a chat with him."

"I hope you're right. My brain can't handle much more confusion, or it'll explode."

"Is that what happened?" She grinned playfully.

"Oh, ouch! That hurts, Rae. That hurts deep."

She laughed quietly. "Go to bed," she said, hugging him. Slowly, they drifted into the realm of the unconscious.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

The Teen Titan's all stood a few feet from their new friend's car. He was leaving, all too soon in Beastboy and Cyborg's minds. He shook Beastboy's hand, and they hugged.

"Gonna miss you dude," Cody sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll visit," Beastboy said, grinning as Cody stepped back.

"Don't get all creep-stalker on me now. Cy, man, it's been real," Cody said, shaking Cyborg's hand too. "I'd hug you, but it'd be a little awkward since you're so tall."

Cyborg laughed. "BB and I will be checkin' in on you, makin' sure you're stayin' out of trouble," he joked.

Cody laughed, and faced the other Titans. "Thanks for letting me crash here, guys. It means a lot to me. Sorry that red guy got away. I was hopping I had put him away. Taking out a criminal? That would've been pretty sick," he said. He shook Robin's hand, nodded to Raven, and was nearly crushed by Starfire's signature monster-hugs. "I'll miss you too Star," he said in a very strained voice.

"It has been most enjoyable getting to know you, friend Cody. I hope to see you and learn more of your strange ways," she said.

"Back at you Star," he said, and looked at Robin.

"I'll catch you later Robin. Maybe next time we'll spar a little bit, I'd love to kick your butt."

"Keep dreaming," Robin said, grinning.

Cody climbed into his car, and rolled the window down. "See you guys," he said, trying to sound happy, when inside he was rather depressed. He didn't have any friends where he lived. Nobody to talk to at all. He was leaving them to suffer through a final year of highschool, where all he had to look forward to were the weekends, where he could talk to Beastboy and Cyborg over the GameStation's online capability. The only problem was that they were always busy.

Beastboy watched as his friend drove off, Cyborg right next to him. All five of them felt at least a little saddened, especially Beastboy and Cyborg, but they swallowed it, and moved on.

Raven and Beastboy spent the first few hours of the day chatting and joking around. Bumblebee had come for a visit, and Cyborg and her were off, enjoying the city. They were officially a long distance couple within the three hours they had been gone.

"I have an idea," Beastboy said, looking up at Raven, who had been rather silent for the past few minutes.

"Yes?" she asked, hesitant.

"Let's go to the amusement park! I heard they have a new roller coaster that goes, like, a million-"

"I have a better idea," she interrupted.

"What might that be?" he asked her, curious.

"Let's go to the mall," she said. He stared, and placed his hand on her forehead.

Rolling her eyes, she looked at him. "What?"

"I'm checking to make sure you aren't sick. Or a robot. You? And the mall? Since when are you two on speaking terms?" he asked her.

"I need books, and you need something to waste your time on," she said simply.

"I have you," he said. When she frowned and turned away, he grabbed her around the waist. "It was just a joke, Rae. I'll buy a few games or something," he said, closing his eyes and holding her close, mouth next to her neck. Kissing it gently, followed by another to her cheek, he breathed in through his nose, and was instantly swept away in the amazing scent of lavender that emanated from her hair.

"A mean joke," she said, a bit hurt and flustered with his poor sense of humor in that moment.

"Want me to make it up to you?" he asked seductively, pulling her closer while his hands drifted upwards. Her eyes snapped wide, and she faced him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" he countered, grinning and speaking normally now.

"That... tone you used. You spoke like you... you know," she said, eying him cautiously.

"Well, it's not often you come across a beautiful half-demon such as yourself. If you ask me, it makes you that much more interesting. I mean, have you even seen how many stories there are on those sites we found that revolve around the sexual intrigue that goes along with knowing a half-demon?" he asked.

"No, I haven't. I don't look at the sites we found."

"Well, for some reason, you being a half-demon just makes it more amazing. I know the power lurking inside of you, and I know you could like, blow up the world if you wanted. For some reason, that's just cool to think, taking into account the fact that I know you'll never do it."

"Amazing as in actually amazing, or amazing as in sexually intriguing and risky – therefore making it even 'hotter'?"

"You mean do I think it's sexy that you're so dangerous, and that I shouldn't even have interactions, yet I do, and it gets me going?"

She nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Psh, not at all," he said, grinning.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

"You're too sex-based," Raven said as they walked through the mall.

"I barely do it and you know it," Beastboy defended.

"True. However, the systematic way that you consistently remark your sexual fantasies and desires for me is annoying, even if it's only for a day or two out of the month," she said.

"There's a reason for it," he said.

"And that would be?"

"I'll let you know when you're ready."

She stopped. "Ready?"

He nodded, took her hand, and pulled her along with him.

After a few moments of silence, Raven spoke. "How are you holding up?" she asked, though she knew he was getting sadder and sadder that his best friend had left.

"With?"

"Cody's departure."

"You already know the answer to that, Rave," he said, grinning weakly at her.

"Yes, I do. I can sense that you're very upset, and you're missing him dearly."

"Even though I only knew him for a couple of days, he was still one of my best friends. I consider him as good a friend as Cy, and you know that's saying something," he said, looking straight ahead.

She squeezed his hand comfortingly, and looked at him. "I can understand that. You two clicked immediately. I knew, when we were at Steve and Kat's, that it would be hard for you both when he left." Another minute or so of silence. "Can I be honest?"

"Sure, Rae. You can tell me anything," he assured her.

"I'm normally not one for such details in relationships, nor am I the one who would be terribly saddened by it, but the day you and Cody were hanging out at the tower was our two month anniversary of our relationship, and it appears you forgot... Are you taking this as seriously as I am?" She feared it had become a 'it's all guys want' experience. She didn't need that, not while she was the product of rape.

He stopped in his tracks. "Oh my God... Raven, I'm so sorry!" he said, rather devastated by her concern. He hugged her tightly. "Of course I am, you mean more to me than anything. I can't even begin to fathom how stupid I am. How could I forget?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm so sorry, Raven."

"It's alright Beastboy. I was just... concerned that this had become a merely sexual relationship."

"I told you Raven, I would never do that to anybody."

"Thank you, Beastboy. Oh, and I forgive you, even though you'll have to try pretty hard to make it up to me," she said, grinning.

"Back massage?"

She nodded.

"Dang it," he grumbled, though he grinned at her.

They ventured through the mall, shop after shop, talking and having a great time. When the communicators played that unforgettable tune, Beastboy flipped his open to reveal Robin, and behind him on the television, an image of Slade. Utterly confused, Beastboy spoke. "Uh, dude... what'd we miss?" he asked.

"Slade has a message for us. You won't like it," he said.

** I swear to you, next update will not take me twenty days. I won't keep up a SUPER fast pace, but it won't take me twenty days. I finally got the drive to finish up the story, and move on to part two, which I've decided will be titled 'The Past'. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Give me a review, and I'll review one of your stories, should you have any.**

** P.S.: Does anyone else hate the fact that, in specific comics, girls ALWAYS have perfect bodies? Even the civilians? **** Not to mention a few are very slutty. **I mean honestly... They all wear thongs too. It's pretty f**king stupid if you ask me, and just reinforcing the stereotype that all men want are perfect boobs, and a perfect butt, when a good portion of us see beauty as a bonus of sorts, and personality always takes first, always. I myself believe that, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a douche, and a sexual deviant. Strange isn't it? All of this coming from a 15 year old boy who, typically, would appreciate that part of the comics.

**Did I tell you I was fifteen? No.. why would I, lol. That's why I'm so proud of this story; I'm so young. Did I use that semi-colon right? I don't know, those things confuse me SO much.**

** Would you look at that? I got from comic book women to how to use a semi-colon without sounding random! I digress a lot, don't I? ANYWAY! I hope I've made this story touch you in some way or another, I feel like the character bonds just... aren't there. You tell me! After all, this is only the first of many stories...hopefully.**

** Sorry if it was overly sexual up there, I just felt like I needed that sort of sexual impulse that might come along with being part animal.**

** P.P.S.: I'm happy! This is already about as long as Of Mice and Men already, assuming my calculations are correct! (Great book, by the way.)**

** See you soon! :D**


	14. UPDATE, good news, KEEP READING!

**FOR THOSE STILL INTERESTED IN THIS STORY! I have two chapters currently written, and my plan is to just update daily, finish it up, and move on to the next part. I've been goin' through hell lately, putting myself back together after a breakup with my girlfriend of two years, my grandmother passing away, and a whole slew of hellacious days pounding down on me. Anyway, expect this story to be finished within, say, two months at most? I'm really buckling down, and I'm so sorry for the delay, my life's been a wreck. Please, tell fellow readers about this story so that they know of it, tell past readers its back, just help me out. I need the self-confidence boost :(**

**SO! Expect tomorrow or tonight an update, and another probably Saturday. I'm not entirely certain, it's all pretty sketchy, but I'll do my best. Remember! Help me bring my previous audience back! Sorry that that sounds so pathetic, but I have a feeling several have decided to ditch the story (like I almost did).**

**Again, so SO SO so sorry about the long wait, I swear I'll get moving again. Part two may take some time to get rolling, we'll see. I'm so sorry about the wait, keep reading, and remember to review when I update. Thanks in advance you guys, you're words make my life ^^**


	15. A Monument To Mistrust

**Ok, a note. The reason I skipped two months in the story was so you could either A: fit another, smaller story into it somehow. Such as a oneshot, songfic, etc., or B: create your own two months of their relationship. If you guys really wanted, I could make a "lost chapter", and have all sorts of dates and such. It'd be a oneshot on my profile, but I have to get lots of demands.**

** Anyways, sorry for the absence, but I WILL finish this! Expect another chapter within another week or so, depending on my emotional level. I'm proud of this chapter, but I'm really tired so there may be several mistakes. If so, ignore them, I'll get them eventually. Always review! (:**

_ "_God dammit!" Beastboy shouted as he swatted a coffee mug off of the table, a small crash rang through the silent common room of Titan's Tower, and ran his fingers through his hair, his fingernails scratching at his scalp.

"It checks out, Beastboy...I'm sorry," the Titan's leader said quietly, keeping his distance from the fuming changeling, though on guard, just in case.

"You're actually buying this? Slade knows that what happened with Terra left us torn for weeks! He's just trying to do it again! You know just as well as I do that what you saw-"

"And you know as well as _I_ do," Robin paused, closing his eyes, and trying to relax. "You know that Slade's explanation fits entirely. It's...regrettably plausible."

Beastboy merely stood, hands planted firmly on the table, his glare practically burning a hole into the screen where Slade had been.

"This ain't happening...not again. Not with him," Cyborg said quietly to Starfire, remorse deep in his voice, all whimsicality or happiness absent.

"No arrests will be made until we have more proof, or a confession," Robin said to Beastboy as nonchalantly as possible, attempting to ease his fury. However, everyone heard the hurt in his voice, and Beastboy seemed as angry as ever.

Beastboy growled. "I can't believe you're actually buying it! It wasn't-"

"It doesn't matter what you say, I'm not changing my mind,"

"What? After how long we've known each other, you don't trust my word over Slade's?"

"I trust you. It's Cody I don't trust."

_About ten minutes prior..._

Beastboy and Raven walked cautiously into the main room, eying the confused looks on each of the Titan's faces.

"Hello, Beastboy, Raven. We have been waiting for you to arrive," Slade said calmly, though you could tell he was grinning by the sound of his voice

"Alright Slade, we're all here. Now explain yourself," Robin said firmly, an expression of worry and rage plastered on his face.

"Explain what?" Beastboy asked no one in particular. The rest of the Titan's merely looked down or away, tension building. "Uh, dudes?"

Slade laughed. "It will be far harder to explain to him, won't it Titans? I'll do the honors. Your friend Cody is a traitor. A spy, just like Terra. Feeding me more information than Terra ever could, because unlike her, he himself had nothing to lose by helping me," Slade said, irate, looking at Beastboy, clearing displaying his hatred for the changeling for not only causing Terra's betrayal of Slade, but even Slade's death in the process.

"He had friends.. a family," Robin muttered, the anger in his voice so apparent and deep, Starfire took a step away from him, still holding his hand.

"A family he cares nothing about. In fact, the feeling is mutual." Beastboy ignored the obvious lie. "Rather sad, but useful nevertheless. You were never more than pawns to him, and he is now sitting at his home in Minnesota, playing his video games and waiting for an unsuspecting Beastboy or Cyborg to contact him. I'm sorry Titans, but you have, yet again, been fooled, and this time, I will not fail in destroying you."

"How?" Cyborg barked, determined to make Slade falter, or state an inconsistency.

"Robin, check the evidence room briefly," Slade calmly said, though annoyed that he had to jump through hoops for the Titans to believe him. Within a minute, Robin was back, a look of shock, horror, sadness, and rage plastered on his face. "My point stands proven, unless someone got passed your security systems?"

"Impossible. I changed everything that night," Cyborg said, more to himself than anybody, realizing the horrid truth.

"Did you happen to check the trunk of Cody's car? Or perhaps made sure that no information on the system files that generate the pass-codes, or the fail-safes you have in case something does go haywire, was downloaded as you slept? Check now, Cyborg, and I'm afraid all the proof you need will be apparent. All you will be able to do is sit, defeated, and wait for the onslaught, since I instructed Cody to tap the communicators and set up one of my own, but a bit more useful. You see, I can end any transmission you make in a heartbeat, ensuring you have no outside help. Should even one of you leave for help, I will immediately launch the attack, and your home will be destroyed. Should one of you pursue Cody, I will attack the city itself. You all know just as well as I do that you will need everyone here to prevent defeat, and even then it would be a far-off goal. Goodbye, Titans. It's been a pain to know you," Slade finished, assuring that the next time they saw him would be the last, no matter what happened.

Cyborg checked the computer, and his worst fears had been confirmed. Slowly moving back to the others, the room fell silent.

When the silence was broken, Robin was the one to speak. "We'll have the Titans within his area search for him. It won't take long, a few days maybe."

"What?" Beastboy shouted.

"We have no choice. I'm afraid your friend was a liar, and you... _we_ fell for it."

"God dammit!" Beastboy shouted.

_Present..._

"If you trust me so much, why don't you believe me? Cody took out Red-X! He couldn't have taken anything! Maybe someone hacked the system! Broke into the tower!" Beastboy exclaimed, angry.

"Not happening man, not with the security systems I got!" Cyborg yelled, angry at the accusation that his technology was inadequate.

"Maybe Slade found the equipment to hack it! He figured out how to disable all of our powers, didn't he?" Beastboy shouted.

"We worked around that, Beastboy. We stopped Slade before he had the real chance to do any serious damage with that technology, and took it back," Robin reminded him.

"And then Cody stole it back, along with any other tech we had," Cyborg reminded him.

"Cody didn't steal anything!" Beastboy shouted, furious with the sudden disloyalty of his best friend.

"He did. Face it, Beastboy, he tricked you. He tricked all of us, just like Terra did," Robin said, eying Beastboy.

Beastboy paused. "Why does it sound like you're pointing fingers at me?"

"Because both of the people we've let stay in our home turned out to be our enemies, and betray, and steal from us AFTER they got close to you."

"Easy, Robin-" Cyborg started.

"You've got to be joking. Tell me you're kidding. You're blaming me for what happened?" Beastboy glared at Robin as if he were looking at Slade.

"Unfortunately, you invited him to our home, you let him stay, and you got close. Now you're just trying to convince yourself that he didn't do it. You need a reality check, because you've been protecting the enemy, and you know it, so fix it."

"I know people, and I know Cody didn't do it. At least..."

"At least what Beastboy?"

"At least, he didn't choose to."

"Cut the act, Beastboy. It's over, we'll find a way to send Titan's to his position, and they'll bring him back for questioning."

"You son of a- I can't believe you! You believe Slade and not...what is that? Why do you have that on you?" Beastboy asked, shocked.

Robin had pulled out a small green and silver disk. "Because I had to be cautious... I know how close you had become to Cody within those couple of days, almost as important to you as Cyborg, and what lengths you'll go to to defend him. I knew you'd react this way, and I'm preventing you from doing something you may regret."

At this point, Raven had retreated to Starfire's side, and Cyborg stood a few feet behind Robin. The tension was building.

Beastboy knit his eyebrows, sadness and confusion overtook him. "You'd use that against me? Detain me for defending what I believe?"

"If it keeps you from attacking us, yes."

Beastboy shook his head, now angry. "Attack you? Wait... you don't..."

"Robin!" Cyborg shouted, knowing what he meant, now beyond angry. Starfire gasped, and Raven glared.

"You think I'm working for Slade?" Beastboy demanded.

"I think... it's possible. You took in Cody, demanded that Cyborg give him the codes to the tower, even though you had only known him for a day. It was the same story with Terra... Beastboy, this all points to you," Robin explained.

"What?" Beastboy growled, and prepared to turn into an animal that could tear Robin apart. Robin sensed this, and slapped the disk onto Beastboy's chest, a current of electricity powerful enough to knock down, and keep him there, disabling his ability to change.

"I'm sorry. I can't be sure you really are a member of this time. The same goes for Raven, since she was there with Beastboy," Robin said sadly, looking at Raven too.

"Hey!" Beastboy shouted, though strained, trying to get Robin's attention.

When he looked back, Robin saw four knuckles smash into his cheek, resulting in a painful crack, and felt himself drop to the floor before blacking out momentarily. Within a few seconds, he sat back up very slowly, his vision blurry and his head killing him. Cyborg aimed his cannon at Beastboy, Starfire stepped back, uncertain what to do, and Raven prepared to attack anyone who even looked at her wrong. In a daze, Robin blinked a few times, unable to see straight. Once his senses returned, he looked at Beastboy, shocked that he was even standing, let alone that he could summon enough strength to knock Robin down. That sort of punch was one Slade could have dealt, not Beastboy. "You picked a bad moment to attack, now I'm convinced," he said, and stood in a fighting stance.

Beastboy's fury climbed and climbed, he felt the adrenaline in his body climb, time seemed to slow to a crawl, and all reserved strength surged through him. He bolted to Robin, tackled him, and got in as many hits as possible before Robin kicked him in the jaw, sending Beastboy onto, and through the kitchen table. Dazed, he stood, fixed his dislocated jaw, and lunged at Robin. Cyborg caught Beastboy, grabbed Robin by the collar, and held them apart.

"Yo! Cut it! Don't you see that this was Slade's plan? He wanted us to be at eachother's throat and it worked! Calm down!" Cyborg exclaimed, and set them down. They merely stood, glaring, fists clenched. Raven stood at Beastboy's side, and Starfire at Robin's.

"I'm outta here," Beastboy said through gritted teeth, his jaw throbbing. He stormed out the door, and Raven glared at Robin before running after Beastboy.

"I can't believe you did that to him man, you know how much he loves Rae. Accusing him is one thing, but Raven and Cody? Us three are his closest friends," Cyborg said quietly, barely looking at Robin.

"And I'm not?"

"No. You're not, actually. You're his boss, teammate, and sometimes his friend. Otherwise you just boss him around, and talk to him like he's still a goofy little kid. And, just a note... we didn't stop Slade that day...he and Raven did. You got taken out immediately," Cyborg finished, and walked out of the room, leaving a bitter Robin, and a concerned Starfire to themselves. As Starfire babied Robin about his cut lip, and a bruise starting to develop on his swollen jaw, he thought to himself, trying to find a course of action that wouldn't break the team up. He had nothing.

_**=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=T=**_

"I can't even believe he would do that to me. Nice to know I'm trusted after so many years," Beastboy said through grit teeth, he and Raven walking through the streets. Night had fallen on the rarely quiet city, only now had Beastboy spoken. He held Raven's hand, his only certainty in a world full of betrayal.

"Calm down, Beastboy. There's no need to speak, I'm content with the silence you wanted. I have patience, I can wait until you're ready to talk," Raven said, looking at him. She rarely called him Beastboy, but she still did not only because she was so accustomed to it, but because it was his real identity now. At least, that's how he described it.

"Thanks Raven... you always seem to know what to do, to say," he said, holding her hand tighter.

"I wish that were true," she said, rubbing her arm to try and warm it. Beastboy released her hand and placed his jacket on her, it rather big on her, and once again grasped her hand. "Thank you," she said, kissing his cheek and resting her head on his shoulder as they strolled aimlessly on the quiet and uncrowded sidewalk.

"No problem," he said. "Wanna go to the park?"

"And do what, exactly?"

"I dunno. Sit, I suppose, relax. Talk about life," he suggested.

Raven nodded, eyes closed. She was growing tired, as was Beastboy, but neither wished to return to the tower quite yet. They reached the park, and sat down on a bench. Immediately, Raven placed Beastboy's arm around her, rest her head over his heart, arms around him, and closed her eyes, listening to the steady beat. Beastboy kissed the top of her head, and cleared his mind, enjoying what little peace he could have for the next few days.

He chucked softly. Raven made an inquisitive 'mm?', and he said "so much for talking."

As minutes passed, they grouped into an hour, and then two, and Raven was deep in sleep, Beastboy deep in thought. Cody was not a thief, nor was he a traitor. Slade has lied a million times, it's just another lie. In fact, it seemed strange that Red-X had broken in only so long before, and wasn't detected until he actually stole something. Perhaps it was Red-X who broke in, who framed Cody. Red-X could have easily done so, right?

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a scream not so far away.

"Crap. Rave, wake up. Raven, come on, wakey-wakey," he said, gently shaking her awake.

"What is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. They both heard a shout of 'stop him!' and turned around.

"Of course it's him. Why wouldn't it be?" he said, irritated.

"He's been common recently, this is _very_ uncommon for him. Usually it would be once every few months, not once every few days," Raven complained, also pointing out a significant piece of evidence that Beastboy could use to clear Cody's name. Red-X saw them just a little too late, and was enveloped in Raven's dark energy before he could even turn to run away. She locked his body to the ground, and he squirmed. He managed to hit a button on his suit, and suddenly Raven's powers weren't working. Beastboy, who was in mid-morph, reverted back to his human form.

His suspicions were correct, it seemed. Red-X was working for Slade.

Red-X tried to run, but Beastboy was too angry to let him get anywhere. Before X had even stood up all the way, he felt himself being kicked in the chest, and a form throwing him to the ground. Upon standing, Red-X couldn't see. Beastboy had knocked his mask crooked, and Red-X tried to simply run, only to get a rib-cracking roundhouse kick to the chest from Raven.

"You've been practicing," Beastboy said, grinning, running back to them as Red-X slowly got up.

"You had the idea to train to get along without powers, I just followed suit," she said.

"You guys... have no idea... what you're doing," Red-X said, gasping and holding his aching chest.

"You framed Cody, and I'm bringing you to Robin to prove it," Beastboy said, attacking.

Red-X was now prepared, and they were suddenly battling like Robin and Slade, though not as quick. Raven stepped in, but Red-X was just too good, and took them both down.

"Good luck," Red-X said, slowly backing away. "Cody took me down first try, are you really surprised Slade got to him?"

Raven stood, as did Beastboy, and attempted to kick Red-X again. She made contact, cracking at least two ribs, but Red-X grabbed her leg, and tossed her through the bench they were sitting on, a crunch audible from where her shoulder hit the concrete under it. Clutching his throbbing chest, he stumbled, almost collapsing, and shook his head, still dazed from the vicious kicks and punches he was receiving. Beastboy took advantage, blinded by more rage than he had ever felt in his life towards the punk who had gotten himself, Raven, and Cody all blamed for Slade's plan's success. Red-X had turned to escape, only to be met by the biggest right hook Beastboy could ever have summoned. His skin broke on contact with Red-X's steel mask, his knuckles bloody and broken. He shook his throbbing, broken hand, and stood over the groaning Red-X. He was only conscious because his mask had taken the majority of the hit, which sent it flying away. Red-X was face down on the ground, and Beastboy was less than concerned which low-life it was that had given them so much hell. He grabbed Red-X by the arm, and picked him up, still not paying attention to him. He was walking to Raven, who was healing her broken shoulder, when she gasped quietly upon seeing Red-X's face. Beastboy, confused, turned Red-X around to see his face. Instantly, he felt his world spiral downward, crashing into oblivion. He cursed quietly at first, and then howled to the sky above for doing this to the team yet again. He looked at the dark haired, blue eyed boy, and knew instantly that the team wouldn't recover, Slade's victory was ensured by this very sight.

Beastboy was looking at a beaten, battered, and bruised boy who was all too familiar to him. Tear's filled the boys eyes, and his mouth was moving, but Beastboy heard nothing. Felt nothing. Only saw. And what he saw made him dread what was to come from Slade, because he now had everything he needed to end the team for good.

Beastboy felt tears roll down his cheek, the end was coming and he knew it. How? Because he was looking into the eyes of someone who had given Slade everything he needed to kill the Titans. He was looking into the eyes of an obviously confused boy. He was looking into the tear-filled eyes of one of his best friends. He was looking into the eye's of Cody.

**Not much to say here, pretty obvious twist I think. Oh well, it's my first story. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are, how you felt about it and stuff. This is more of a test of emotionally challenging writing, I'm trying to see if I can maybe do that. I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been pretty busy lately, but I'm back, and I'll be updating, hopefully, soon. Tell your friends, review, and keep reading! (:**

** Oh! One more thing, one of you asked for some advice for first-time writers. So far, all I can say is don't let it become some overwhelming thing. One chapter is a lot easier than the idea of writing a full, novel length story. I can't really think of much else, but if you really want some great advice, I'd talk to Novus Ordo Seclorum. He has amazing writing talent, and has given me some great advice for my story. Otherwise, keep in mind that if it has grammatical and spelling mistakes, capitalization errors, and other things like that, it becomes more annoying to read, so always work on keeping those in order. Hope you guys liked the chapter, more to come soon!**


	16. UPDATE: I'm back, and I'm sorry

It's been a long, long time. I've apologized before for tardiness, made promises I didn't very well keep, and generally failed to deliver the rest of this story to you all. I think you deserve better than what you've been given, and I feel that I can deliver now.

I'm sorry for dropping off the radar like I did; I never intended to abandon this story, nor any of you. However, life came at me with everything it had, and I couldn't very well write when I had so much to deal with personally. As such, I won't make any promises that I'm not 100% sure I can keep, and I won't disappear like before.

There's not much of value to be said for why I was gone, but suffice it to say that depression crippled me for the entirety of the time (and truthfully, a while before it), and only a few months ago did I escape it's grasp. Recently, I found myself checking out this story, and saw that I had in fact gotten a few favorites, even in my absence. It got me thinking, and reading. So, here I am, and with a new game plan:

I've decided that I'm going to edit and republish the current story I have written here. I won't change much, if anything, but I'll buff up the writing and fix the errors I discover along the way. I think I've evolved significantly as a writer, as well as a person. I plan to deliver a better executed version of the same story I've been telling.

I won't promise rapid updates, as I am working on a novel of my own as well, but the updated chapters shouldn't take me too long to pump out, and after that I imagine myself able to publish brand new chapters every few weeks, though I can't be sure. I'm not promising anything other than a finished version of this story to be published before a year's time. I hope I can get some new readers as well as bring back some old ones, though I would be surprised to see many of you sticking around for so long. We'll see, I suppose.

Again, I sincerely apologize for my absence and I hope that I can please you with the coming work.

I'll be posting again soon enough, ladies and gents.  
I promise.

-Max


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